SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Kaden Archie drove the length of the court and hit a twisting layup with one second left on the clock, and Georgia Southern erased a six-point deficit in the final 1:22 to earn a 72-69 men's basketball victory over USC Upstate Saturday night in the Hodge Center.
The Eagles trailed 68-62 following a Tommy Bruner triple from the corner. Archie answered with a conventional 3-point play, and after a Spartan turnover, the junior hit a runner in the lane to trim the margin to 68-67.
Archie tied up Bruner to force a turnover on the Spartans' next trip down the floor, giving the Eagles the ball back with 27 seconds left.
Eric Boone penetrated into the lane and found an open
Kamari Brown for a layup to give GS a 69-68 lead with 13 seconds remaining.
Boone was whistled for hitting the elbow of Bruner on his jumper just outside the paint with 6.8 seconds to go, and Bruner made the first free throw to tie the score.
Prince Toyambi rebounded the miss on the second one and fed Archie who drove aggressively to the hoop, made the acrobatic layup and was fouled. He converted the free throw for the final margin.
Eagles of the Game
Archie finished with 23 points, five rebounds and three steals, and Boone tallied 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Elijah McCadden collected 12 points, four assists and two steals.
Key Moments
Trailing 38-32 early in the second half, USC Upstate (0-4) went on a 16-1 run and took a 48-39 lead on a Mysta Goodloe transition triple from the wing with 11:43 to go. GS was 0 for 5 from the field with three turnovers during the stretch.
The Eagles (3-0) responded by scoring 10 of the next 11 points of the game and tied it on an Archie layup in transition with 8:41 remaining. USC Upstate had one turnover and missed three shots during the run.
Key Stats
The Spartans made 10 of 19 from 3-point range in the game, while the Eagles were 2 of 17, but GS scored 21 second-chance points and 30 points off of 17 Spartan turnovers.
Quotables from head coach Brian Burg
On the last 1:30 of the game
"It was a hard-fought game, back-and-forth. I have the utmost respect for USC Upstate, Coach Dickerson and his ball club. In the last minute and a half, we tried to be extremely aggressive, tried to play off two feet, tried to get downhill and tried to get to the rim.
Kaden Archie came up with some really big plays, and we got some key stops late."
On facing adversity
"I'm proud of our group. They stayed together when facing adversity. We were down about seven earlier in the game, and they fought back. I'm really proud of the way they stuck together through some adversity. It was the first road game for us, and guys stuck together, moved the basketball, got downhill and shared it late, which allowed us to have a couple of easy baskets."
On defensive performance
"We played pretty solid defense in the first half. We had some defensive lapses in the second half and really struggled getting stops. Give credit to USC Upstate - their plan of attack, and they have talented guards who hurt us late in the second half getting downhill and finding their bigs rolling. We need to do a much better job. We need to continue to jell together - this is a brand-new ball club and brand-new staff - so offense and defense are going to take a little while. We need to have a good week of preparation going into Davidson on Friday."
Next Up
The Eagles are scheduled to travel to longtime Southern Conference and current Atlantic 10 competitor Davidson Dec. 11. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
