CHARLESTON, S.C. —Georgia Southern atoned for a Jan. 19 loss to The Citadel with a 78-57 win over the Bulldogs on Thursday inside McAlister Field House.
    The Eagles led by as many as 32 points in the second half, before settling for the 21-point victory. Georgia Southern will remain in Charleston, facing College of Charleston on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
    “I’m very proud of our team,” said GSU coach Charlton Young. “We’ve done a lot of soul-searching recently and I’m happy with the way we came out and played tonight. We showed tonight that we are a team capable of playing well, but it takes every man on the team locking in.”
    Georgia Southern (11-15, 5-8 SoCon) picked up the win behind 20 points from Cleon Roberts. The freshman matched his career-high on 4-of-6 from long-range.
    Eric Ferguson came off the bench to score 14 points and had three shots go in from beyond the arc as the team shot 55% from beyond the arc, draining a season-high 12 three-pointers.
    Brian Holmes scored 11 points with five assists in his first career start. He also grabbed five boards in the game. C.J. Reed saw his string of consecutive games with 19-or-more points scored come to an end as the senior posted 10 points. He needs 12 points to reach the 2,000 career point milestone.

The Citadel (6-18, 3-11 SoCon) was led by 19 points and eight rebounds from P.J. Horgan. Marshall Harris III scored 10 points. Mike Groselle had his streak of seven-straight games in double-figures snapped as the senior was held to nine points.

Georgia Southern opened the game with full court pressure, forcing seven first half turnover. The Eagles also ran the break against the Bulldogs, scoring 47 points in the first half, the second-highest total of the year, second only to 48 against Brewton Parker in December.

GSU led 47-29 at the break behind 17 first half points by Roberts. It was the third time this season that an Eagle had scored 17 points in a half. He was 3-of-4 from downtown in the first half as the Eagles made 7-of-11 from the bonusphere in the first half.

Roberts came out and made his first basket of the second half, a three-pointer, to match his career-high set nearly two months ago at Virginia Tech. Ferguson extended the lead to 28 points with 15:06 remaining. He opened the game going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field with all three baskets from beyond the arc. On the next possession he added a pair of free throws to put GSU up by 30 (63-33) with 14:05 left on the clock. The Eagles’ largest lead of the game was 32 points with 12:32 left in the game.

The Citadel, however, answered and cut the lead back to 29 points with 12:05 left on the clock. Another three-pointer with 6:32 left saw the lead fall to 24 as the Bulldog pressure slowed the Eagle scoring.

Holmes reached double-figures with 5:13 remaining when his three-pointer gave the junior 11 points and the Eagles a 75-48 lead. Freshman Cole Rives drained his first career three-point basket with 1:20 left en route to a career-high three points on the night.

Georgia Southern faces College of Charleston on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. inside the TD Arena.