STATESBORO, Ga. - Mike Hughes scored six of his 20 points in the final 2:17 of the game, and Georgia Southern hit three clutch free throws in the waning seconds to defeat Louisiana, 74-70, Monday night in Sun Belt Conference men's basketball action in Hanner Fieldhouse.

In a game that featured eight lead changes and two ties, the Ragin' Cajuns led for most of the second half until Hughes drilled a 3-pointer to put the Eagles ahead 68-66 with 2:02 remaining. Hughes made the play of the game after he lost the ball on his way up for what looked like an open layup. He stole the ball from behind and converted a layup and a free throw for a conventional 3-point play and a 71-66 cushion with 1:17 to go. Tookie Brown and Ike Smith made three free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Hughes canned 5 of 8 from 3-point range and added four rebounds, four steals and two assists. Ike Smith tallied 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Tookie Brown chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Four Louisiana players scored in double figures, led by Justin Miller's 18 points. Bryce Washington recorded a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds, and Jay Wright collected 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Frank Bartley added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, but the Ragin' Cajuns shot just 37.3 percent from the field and had six of their shots blocked by GS defenders, tying a season-high for the Eagles. 

With the win, Georgia Southern improved to 16-8 overall and 9-2 in the league while Louisiana fell to 14-10, 4-7 in the SBC. GS is now 9-1 at home on the year and has won 12 of its past 15 games overall. 

The Story
The Eagles played tough defense early on, holding the Ragin' Cajuns to just 12.5 percent shooting from the field through the first five minutes while jumping out to a 10-3 lead. A pair of 3-pointers from Jake Allsmiller keyed a 9-0 run that lasted almost three minutes midway through the half, and the Eagles were up 40-26 with 1:53 to go in the frame.

Louisiana scored the final 12 points of the period, including 3 of 4 free throws on one possession as the Eagles were whistled for a technical foul. The Ragin' Cajuns outscored the Eagles 13-5 over the first 5:14 of the second half and held a 54-47 advantage with 13:13 to go. 

Quotables
Junior guard Mike Hughes
On the go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner
"I have such great teammates, and I just feed off of them. Tookie drove the ball hard, and they were kind of trapping him so my man helped out too much. He found me, and I knocked down the shot."

On the 3-point play
"I was kind of bummed out that I lost the ball because I thought I had him beat for the easy layup. He turned his back, and he didn't see me because I fell out of bounds. I just made a play on the ball and made a basketball play. Luckily, it went in."

Head coach Mark Byington
"I'll share what I shared with the guys in the locker room. They grew up tonight. That was a hard-fought game. I thought Lafayette played great. It was intense and great competition, and I think a great sign of growing up and becoming a young man is when you can handle adversity, when you make mistakes and things are going wrong and you can respond to it. There were a lot of things going wrong, and credit Lafayette and the good things they were doing. We were frustrated, we were in foul trouble, we were doing some uncharacteristic things but we found a way to respond. It was a great win. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't the best game we've played, but it was what was needed tonight. Somehow, you have to find a way to pull these things out, and somehow, we did tonight."

Up next
The Eagles return to the road for a pair of conference games at Coastal Carolina Saturday and at Appalachian State Monday.

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