LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Kemy Osse knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing with 8.1 seconds left for his only points of the game to lift Little Rock to a 56-54 Sun Belt men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Monday night in the Jack Stephens Center.

Georgia Southern got the ball across half court and called timeout with 4.3 to play. Ike Smith got the inbounds pass and went to the basket, but his contested runner was too strong, and the final horn sounded.

The loss moves the Eagles back into a tie for third place with Georgia State in the league standings. The Eagles and Panthers meet Saturday in Atlanta in the final game of the regular season, and both need a victory to assure themselves a bye in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament.

Jake Allsmiller led Georgia Southern (18-12, 11-6) with a season-high 19 points, and Smith finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Tookie Brown tallied eight points and five assists.

Jalen Jackson posted 16 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead Little Rock (14-15, 5-11), and Maurius Hill
Collected 11 points and eight boards. Marcus Johnson Jr. chipped in 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.

The story
Little Rock trimmed an 11-point second-half deficit down to one point on a layup by Andre Jones with 1:40 to go. Neither team scored on its next possession, and Georgia Southern had the ball with a minute to go. Brown missed a runner but Montae Glenn collected the offensive rebound with 30.1 left, and the Trojans had to foul. Brown missed the front end of the one-and-one to set up Osse's late-game heroics.

Osse was 0 for 7 from the field before hitting the eventual game winner, and Brown's missed free throw was one of two for the Eagles in 15 attempts on the night.

Georgia Southern made four of its first five shots of the game, all 3-pointers, while Little Rock missed four of its first six with four turnovers. Smith added three free throws after being fouled attempting a trey, and Allsmiller knocked down a pair that gave the Eagles an early 17-5 lead.

Little Rock cut the lead to two points early in the second half, but Allmsiller and Smith capped an 11-2 run with consecutive triples to put the Eagles ahead 39-28 with 14:19 remaining.

Quotables from head coach Mark Byington
"A lot of times sports simulates life and you get what you deserve. We did not have the intensity, the full effort and focus for the entire game. It creeped in and showed in different areas, and I'm not sure why. That's the hardest thing right now. I'm not sure why we didn't play the game like it was the biggest game of the year. That was my job to get the guys ready and to understand that, and I must have done a poor job delivering the message to them about what we have to do to be able to win here. We were sloppy with the ball, and we turned it over and we played hesitant. Our defense held us in there about as long as it could, but we did not play good basketball and you get what you deserve."

"When we were up five with 3:47 to go, and we had a media timeout and we told the guys that we're going to have to go and win the game - that we just can't sit there and let them be the aggressor. From that point on, they scored quickly right after the timeout and put it right to three, and then we were sloppy on offense and didn't execute. Beating a team on the road is not easy, and I want our guys to be great and play great, so we have to figure out a different way to get the message across on what we have to do. We just played and we didn't take the game, we didn't have any killer instinct and even when there was times when it looked like we were about to go, we just didn't enough toughness to be able to finish the whole deal."

"We weren't clean passing the ball, and we didn't cut hard. There was a lot of things on the execution side of the offense where you really have to finish the deal and score and do the right thing that we didn't do."

Next up
The Eagles finish out the regular season at in-state rival Georgia State Saturday, March 4, in GSU Sports Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. in a doubleheader with the women's teams, and the game can be seen live on ESPN3. A point is also on the line in the Southern vs. State Rivalry Series.

Georgia Southern will host a pre-game event beginning at 11:30 a.m. at The Smoke Ring (309 Nelson St SW, Atlanta). RSVP here.

The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from the Georgia Southern ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.