ORANGEBURG,SC—The South Carolina State men's basketball team will return to action on Saturday (Dec.7) when they host the visiting Eagles of Georgia Southern in a non-conference matchup. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools on the hardwood.

The Bulldogs (2-6) are looking to turn things around after suffering back-to-back defeats to Omaha-Nebraska (67-83) and ACC foe Clemson (49-65) in their last two outings. Senior Preseason First Team All-MEAC forward Matthew Hezekiah leads SC State scoring attack with 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

Sophomore forward Daryll Palmer is the leading rebounder with 6.5, while scoring a little over 8.0 points. Senior guard Adama "Louis" Adams, sophomore Jordan Smith and freshman Koran Wright all are averaging a little over 7.5 per game.

Meanwhile, Georgia Southern (4-5) posted their fourth win of the season after knocking off Brewton-Parker, 75-66, in Statesboro. Red-shirt junior guard Jelani Hewitt enters the contest as the defending SoCon Player of the Week after averaging 27.7 ppg in three games last week. Hewitt leads the Southern Conference in scoring and ranks seventh nationally with 24.7 ppg and has gone over 20 points in scoring for seven of nine games.

Junior guard Tre Bussey is second in scoring overall and averages 21.1 ppg and ranks second in the SoCon. He also has scored over 20 points in seven of the nine games this season.

South Carolina State will have a ten day break before returning to action on Tuesday Dec. 17, when they host Coastal Carolina in a home and home series at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.