Late Run Sends Men’s Basketball Past Campbell

Friday, November 29

Fort Myers, Fla.

4:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

4-2,0-0Sun Belt

Campbell

4-2,0-0Big South

Ga. Southern

Campbell

Ike Smith scored a season-high 21 points and added seven rebounds.

Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

11/29/2019 8:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Eagles play North Dakota Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

By: Marc Gignac

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Ike Smith posted a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and two steals to lead Georgia Southern to an 84-74 men's basketball win over Campbell Friday evening in the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic in Alico Arena.

Eagles of the Game
Smith made 6 of 13 from the floor and 8 of 12 from the free-throw line, and Isaiah Crawley tallied 17 points and six rebounds. Elijah McCadden had 13 points and three steals, while Quan Jackson chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Key moments
Georgia Southern (4-2) took control of the game with a 12-4 run late in the contest as the Eagles forced four Campbell turnovers and held the Fighting Camels (4-2) to 1-for-5 from the field. McCadden capped the run with a triple from the corner giving GS a 73-63 cushion with 2:42 to play. The Eagles went 11-for-14 from the free-throw line the rest of the way, with Smith making six of them, to seal the win.

Coming off of a nine-day layoff, the Eagles missed their first six shots of the game and fell behind 20-12, but Crawley scored four points in an 8-0 run that gave Georgia Southern its first lead of the game, at 28-27, late in the first half. Smith hit a 3-pointer, and Simeon Carter collected a putback dunk in the final minute of the half as GS trailed 35-34 at the break.

Key stats
GS forced 19 Campbell turnovers and scored 20 points off of the miscues. The Eagles made 29 of 38 from the free-throw line, including 21 of 28 in the second frame. Campbell came into the game making 35 percent of its 3-point attempts, but the Eagles held the Fighting Camels to 4 of 22 from long distance.

Quotables from senior Ike Smith
On holding Campbell to four 3-pointers
"Guarding the 3-point line was our main focus, and it's a tough offense to guard. They got us on a lot of backdoor cuts but our main focus was to guard the 3, and we just locked in and were able to do that tonight."

On the slow start
"Coach Byington always preaches to us to stay the course. We might not start out well, but sometimes there's going to be adversity and you have to be able to withstand it and just be able to bounce back."

Next up
Georgia Southern takes on North Dakota Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the Eagles' second game of the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic in Alico Arena. GS also takes on tourney host FGCU Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.