FORT MYERS, Fla. – Marlon Stewart scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and tallied nine rebounds and four assists to lead North Dakota to an 80-68 men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday evening in the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic in Alico Arena.

Eagles of the Game
Ike Smith matched his season high with 21 points and added eight rebounds, while Elijah McCadden posted 19 points and seven boards.

Key moments
The Eagles (4-3) overcame an 11-point first-half deficit and led 60-54 after a pair of Quan Jackson free throws with 7:14 to play, but Stewart scored the next 10 points of the game to give North Dakota a four-point cushion with 4:50 left. Smith broke the stretch with a pair of free throws, but De'Sean Allen-Eikens scored the next four while the Eagles missed a 3-pointer and turned it over on the other end. 

A triple by Billy Brown, his first points of the game, put North Dakota (4-4) ahead by nine with 3:05 remaining, and the Eagles could not get the margin under seven the rest of the way. Brown made the score 78-66 with a free throw with 48 seconds left as North Dakota finished the contest on a 26-8 run over the final seven minutes. GS made just one of its final 14 shots. 

Key stats
North Dakota held Georgia Southern to 30 percent shooting from the field, including 4 of 17 from the 3-point line. The Eagles were without Calvin Wishart and David Viti, who did not dress because of injuries, and Isaiah Crawley limped off the court with 8:48 to play and did not return. 

Quotables from head coach Mark Byington
"It was kind of a mixture of things. In the second half, we did come back and take the lead. We had great energy, we started to execute on offense, we had a good rhythm, we were getting stops and then things went sideways quickly. Isaiah Crawley got hurt, they started making some tough 3s on the other end, and we weren't rebounding the way we need to and some things like that. It's just a combination of things. So, right now, this is going to test us. I would say we have more adversity than probably any other team in the country right now. Not with our character or things like that but just what we're dealing with things inside the team internally with injuries and things like that. I doubt any other team in the country is dealing with what we're dealing with. So, we're going to try and piece it together. We have a quick turnaround tomorrow, and we have to play a good team on their home court so it's going to be a challenge for sure."

Next up
Georgia Southern plays tourney host FGCU Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ in the final game of the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic.