STATESBORO – Tookie Brown tallied 32 points and five assists, and Georgia Southern made 12 3-pointers to post a 102-91 men's basketball victory over Savannah State Saturday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Brown went 10-for-16 from the field, 5-for-8 from long distance and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line for Georgia Southern (7-2), and
Montae Glenn collected his fifth career double-double and fourth this season with 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. The junior had the most rebounds for an Eagle since
Eric Ferguson corralled 16 at UTA in 2014 and added three blocked shots
Jake Allsmiller hit double figures for the fourth straight game with 19 points and drew four charges, while
B.J. Gladden chipped in 11 points.
David-Lee Jones Jr. tallied 10 points and three assists.
Javaris Jenkins scored 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting to lead Savannah State (3-8), and Dexter McClanahan netted 10. Zach Sellers notched 10 points and six assists.
The story
Savannah State whittled a 10-point second half deficit down to three points on a McClanahan layup with 6:10 to play. GS responded with a 10-2 spurt, ignited by an Allsmiller triple and capped by a 3-point play Gladden. The senior's free throw made the score 88-77 with 4:14 remaining.
Maricus Glenn cut the lead to eight with a layup with 21 seconds to go, but that was as close as the Tigers would get. Georgia Southern shot 48 percent from the floor and hit 12-of-36 from long distance. The Eagles outrebounded SSU 17-8 on the offensive glass and scored 18 second-chance points.
The teams combined to hit five straight 3-pointers on the first five possessions of the game.
Quotables
Head coach Mark Byington
"I just know how many points they can put up in a hurry so I never felt comfortable until the final horn sounded. They present a lot of challenges to us. We took away the 3-point line, which they are really good at, but we leaked on giving up drives. We struggled guarding, and I wasn't really happy with our defense, but we did a lot of good things."
"Tookie was terrific. I put so much on his shoulders tonight, and he came through. He had to break the press, handle the traps, make shots, play defense, steal the ball and then I wouldn't even take him out of the game because I couldn't."
"I think some guys grew up tonight. I hope that later in the season I can point at this game and say a lot of guys started playing better because of their experience in this game."
"Our rebounding tonight with 17 offensive rebounds and Montae getting seven of them was huge. That's a big night, and he sat out about six or seven minutes that I wanted him in the game because of cramps or he probably could have had 20 rebounds."
Junior forward Montae Glenn
On his offensive rebounding this season
"I just worked really hard in the offseason, even when I went home, I didn't take a day off and I trained really hard and it has paid off."
"Whenever my teammates take a shot, I always try to wedge my opponent under the goal or get in front of them so even if the ball goes in, I have created a good habit."
Next up
The Eagles embark on a four-game, 14-day, seven-city, cross-country road trip that ends before Christmas next week. GS opens the stretch at George Mason Tuesday, Dec. 12.
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