GREENSBORO, N.C. — After another slow start the Georgia Southern men’s basketball team rallied to take the lead but was undone by a 61 percent shooting effort in the second half by UNC Greensboro to lose 79-67 Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
UNCG improves to 8-4 and 2-1 in the Southern Conference while GSU drops
to 9-5 and 2-2.
“I thought our effort was really good and we fought hard, we just didn’t make any shots,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “Eventually in this game you’ve got to start making shots. We shot 27 percent in the first half and that’s just not going to get it done for us.”
Senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored a season-high 24 points and tallied his third double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. Nine of his points came from the free throw line on 13 attempts.
“He played hard,” said Price about Graham. “He really competed. We tried to go inside to him a lot and try to draw some fouls and he did a good job making his free throws.”
The Eagles struggled offensively in the early going, shooting 1-for-19 in the first 9:10 of the ballgame. But during that time the Spartans had just 14 points and a 3-pointer by senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) to break the spell jumpstarted a 10-2 run to bring GSU back to within two, 16-14.
Georgia Southern hit another scoring binge to take its first lead of the contest. An 8-0 run late in the first half put GSU on top 26-25 with 1:53 to play but the Eagles went into the half down 27-26.
The Spartans came out of the break firing making eight of their first 11 shots from the floor. When they were done, they turned a one-point lead into a 15-point bulge, 49-34.
UNC Greensboro shot just 32.1 percent in the first half but 60.9 percent in the second, converting on 14 of 23 shots.
“We had to press because we were behind,” said Price. “When you press you’re going to give up some easy baskets but when you get behind you have to do some things to speed up the game. They took some quick shots — they made some, they missed some — but Oleksiak really hurt us from the 3-point line.”
UNCG’s Kevin Oleksiak led all scorers with 29 points. He shot 5-for-11 from 3-point land and 10-for-12 from the line.
“He got a lot of them against the press,” said Price. “Again, when you
get behind you’ve got to do some things to speed the game up. He got a lot of open looks against the press.”
GSU junior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) followed up his 21-point effort Thursday against Davidson with 17 and seven rebounds. Senior Matthew Fields (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 10 points and nine boards.
The Spartans’ Ben Stywall contributed 16 points and Kyle Hines had 15 points and a season-low three rebounds.
The Eagles return home Thursday to take on the College of Charleston at 7:30 p.m.
UNCG improves to 8-4 and 2-1 in the Southern Conference while GSU drops
to 9-5 and 2-2.
“I thought our effort was really good and we fought hard, we just didn’t make any shots,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “Eventually in this game you’ve got to start making shots. We shot 27 percent in the first half and that’s just not going to get it done for us.”
Senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored a season-high 24 points and tallied his third double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. Nine of his points came from the free throw line on 13 attempts.
“He played hard,” said Price about Graham. “He really competed. We tried to go inside to him a lot and try to draw some fouls and he did a good job making his free throws.”
The Eagles struggled offensively in the early going, shooting 1-for-19 in the first 9:10 of the ballgame. But during that time the Spartans had just 14 points and a 3-pointer by senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) to break the spell jumpstarted a 10-2 run to bring GSU back to within two, 16-14.
Georgia Southern hit another scoring binge to take its first lead of the contest. An 8-0 run late in the first half put GSU on top 26-25 with 1:53 to play but the Eagles went into the half down 27-26.
The Spartans came out of the break firing making eight of their first 11 shots from the floor. When they were done, they turned a one-point lead into a 15-point bulge, 49-34.
UNC Greensboro shot just 32.1 percent in the first half but 60.9 percent in the second, converting on 14 of 23 shots.
“We had to press because we were behind,” said Price. “When you press you’re going to give up some easy baskets but when you get behind you have to do some things to speed up the game. They took some quick shots — they made some, they missed some — but Oleksiak really hurt us from the 3-point line.”
UNCG’s Kevin Oleksiak led all scorers with 29 points. He shot 5-for-11 from 3-point land and 10-for-12 from the line.
“He got a lot of them against the press,” said Price. “Again, when you
get behind you’ve got to do some things to speed the game up. He got a lot of open looks against the press.”
GSU junior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) followed up his 21-point effort Thursday against Davidson with 17 and seven rebounds. Senior Matthew Fields (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 10 points and nine boards.
The Spartans’ Ben Stywall contributed 16 points and Kyle Hines had 15 points and a season-low three rebounds.
The Eagles return home Thursday to take on the College of Charleston at 7:30 p.m.
