Box Score STATESBORO, GA—Sophomore guard
Karon Wright tossed in a team-high 17 points, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles of Georgia Southern rallied from behind to defeat South Carolina State, 71-58, Saturday (Nov.29) at Hanner Fieldhouse.
"It was a tough loss and I thought our players played hard," said SC State head coach
Murray Garvin. "We outrebounded a very good team, but just didn't make the plays we needed down the stretch."
The Eagles (4-1) had four players in double-figures with redshirt senior guard Jalani Hewitt leading the way with a game-high 23 points, while teammate forward Trent Wiedeman added 18 and eight rebounds in the win.
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 10-point lead, 19-9, off a jumper by senior guard Angel Matias at the 10:34 mark. A three-pointer by freshman guard
Edward Stephens tied the game 27-27 with 4:43 remaining in the first-half.
Wright nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give South Carolina State its first lead of the night, 33-27. Matias cut the lead to four, 35-31 for GSU on a dunk to close out the half.
The second-half seemed to be the determining factor down the stretch for the Bulldogs, as costly turnovers resulted in back-to-back three-pointers by freshman guard Jake Allsmiller to give the Eagles a six point lead, 59-53 with 4:43 remaining.
Georgia Southern shooting 86.4% (19-of-22) from the charity stripe made seven straight free-throws to build their biggest lead of the night 14, 69-55 with 0:54 seconds remaining in regulation.
South Carolina State was even in every category including 3-pointers (
SCSU (11-25) GSU (8-23); free-throws (
SCSU (62.5 %) GSU (86.4%) and rebounds (
SCSU (35) GSU (32). The Bulldogs had 18 turnovers on the day.
Matias finished with 10, while freshman guard Mike Hughes added 11 for Georgia Southern. Freshman forward
Tashombe Riley added 10 for the Bulldogs.
South Carolina State will return to action on Tuesday (Dec.2) when they travel to Conway, SC to take on the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina in a non-conference showdown. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
