Chattanooga finished the game on a 30-11 run.
    Fortunately for Georgia Southern, it wasn’t quite enough for the Mocs.
    The Eagles played keepaway for the final 2 minutes, 30 seconds and held off the Mocs’ charge to escape with a 59-57 win on Saturday in Hanner Fieldhouse.
    Chattanooga (8-14, 3-6 Southern Conference) took its first and only lead at 57-56 on a pair of free throws by Gee McGhee, but the Eagles (10-13, 4-6) iced the game when point guard Brian Holmes kicked it to the top of the 3-point arc to a wide open Eric Ferguson, who buried it with 13 seconds left for the final margin.
    “We wanted to be very aggressive on that last play,” said point guard C.J. Reed, who led GSU with 19 points. “We wanted to get fouled or we wanted to get something at the rim. We were also looking for an inside-out 3, and we got a wide-open look — uncontested.”
    McGhee jacked up a desperation 3 on the other end that was contested by GSU’s Cameron Baskerville, but it missed everything and went out of bounds with 4 seconds remaining.
    Chattanooga’s Z. Mason stole it away on the inbound but lost the handle on it as time ran out.
    The Eagles scored only 11 points over the final 16:30.
    They took a 21-point lead when Reed converted the free throw on a three-point play, but GSU only managed three more points over the next 9:53 while Chattanooga chipped away.
    “In the second half, we played with a lack of confidence,” GSU coach Charlton Young said. “We played not to lose instead of playing to win. That’s something we have to address. Guys need to understand that when we get a big lead again, we need to keep our foot on the throttle.”
    The Mocs were led in scoring by McGhee, who scored 19 points. Mason added 14 points and center Drazen Zlovaric added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
    The Eagles were led by Reed and Ferguson, who scored 16 points.
    The Eagles scored in bunches in the first half.
    Reed scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the game, drilling three-straight 3-pointers to aid in an early 17-7 advantage.
    The Eagles made 7 of their first 9 shots.
    “We (usually) come out and go to sleep in the first half, and we play well in the second half,” Reed said. “Tonight we wanted to come out with a lot of energy.”
    The highlight of the run came from an alley-oop from Cleon Roberts to Ferguson.
    The Mocs answered with a 7-2 run — which included five points from the free-throw line — to cut it to 19-4, but Ferguson stopped the run cold with a steal and a two-handed dunk on the other end.
    Tre Bussey answered that with a steal of his own seconds later, and that resulted in an easy layup.
    The largest lead of the half came off of a jump hook by Kameron Dunnican that put the Eagles ahead 31-18. Chattanooga trailed, 36-23, at halftime.
    Georgia Southern returns to action Thursday in Hanner Fieldhouse against Appalachian State at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Before the game, Ferguson was presented with a ball from Young and GSU’s director of athletics, Tom Kleinlein, commemorating his 500th-career rebound, which he recorded earlier in the season against North Carolina A&T. … Chattanooga had allowed its opponents a 20-point scorer in each of its last seven games. Reed finished one point short of making it eight in a row. … The Eagles have now won four straight over the Mocs, including three last season.

    Matt Yogus may be reached at (912) 489-9408.