NEW ORLEANS – Isaiah Crawley scored a career-high 21 points, and Georgia Southern shot 51 percent from the floor on its way to an 81-67 victory over ULM in the Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals Friday night in Lakefront Arena.
The Eagles advance to the semifinals, where they will face second-seeded UTA Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET in Lakefront Arena. The game will air live on ESPN+
Eagles of the game
Crawley made 9 of 12 from the field and two free throws to lead Georgia Southern.
David-Lee Jones Jr. made 6 of 9 from the floor and 4 of 5 from 3-point range while tallying 17 points, three assists and two steals.
Quan Jackson collected 14 points and three steals, and
Tookie Brown posted 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Montae Glenn notched a game-high 11 rebounds.
Key moments
After ULM trimmed an early 10-point deficit to one point, Georgia Southern (21-11) scored the next 15 of the game. Six different Eagles scored during the run, led by Jones Jr's five points. GS held the Warhawks to 0 for 8 from the field and forced three turnovers during the stretch.
JD Williams halted the run with a triple for ULM (18-15), but Crawley answered with a conventional 3-point play at the other end for a 42-26 halftime lead. A 15-5 run by the Eagles, capped by a Crawley jumper, gave GS a 68-41 cushion with 9:49 remaining. The margin grew to 28 points on a pair of
Elijah McCadden free throws with 3:14 to play.
Inside the numbers
Georgia Southern scored 24 points off of 17 ULM turnovers, and the Eagles outscored the Warhawks 42-14 in the paint.