Southern Conference Basketball Standings
North
Team SoCon All
Elon 5-2 12-7
Samford 5-2 7-13
Western Carolina 5-3 8-12
Appalachian St. 4-3 8-10
Chattanooga 3-4 8-12
UNC Greensboro 3-4 5-13
South
Team SoCon All
Davidson 7-1 12-7
Charleston 5-3 13-7
Ga. Southern 2-5 8-12
Furman 2-5 5-13
Wofford 2-5 8-12
Citadel 1-7 4-14
Thursday's Scores
Appalachian St. 64, Georgia Southern 62, OT
Davidson 79, Western Carolina 74
UNC Greensboro 66, Samford 64
Elon 85, Chattanooga 61
Charleston 69, Citadel 54
Wofford 63, Furman 50
BOONE, N.C. — Georgia Southern opened a three-game road swing with a 64-62 overtime loss to Appalachian State on Thursday night.
The Eagles mustered a 22-5 run over the last 8:15 in regulation to force overtime.
C.J. Reed made a clutch 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds to tie the game. The Mountaineers, however, took the win with a 3-pointer by Chris Burgess with 10 seconds left in overtime.
“We haven’t been shooting the ball very well lately, but I am proud of the fight our team had to fight and scrap to get back into the game,” said GSU coach Charlton Young. “No doubt about it, we should have won this game, but we left the man on the ball and he drained the shot. I believe we have a team that can win the Southern Conference, but we have to be disciplined and not make mistakes.”
Reed led the way for Georgia Southern (8-12, 2-5 Southern Conference) with 16 points and a season-high nine rebounds. He also added five assists and three steals on the night. His first and only three-pointer in the game forced overtime with nine seconds remaining in regulation.
Freshman Cleon Roberts scored 10 points while matching his career-high with five rebounds. Eric Ferguson fouled out, but added 10 points and seven rebounds to the cause with a team-high four steals. GSU forced 17 Mountaineer turnovers with 11 off Eagle steals.
Appalachian State (4-3, 8-10) had a pair of double-doubles from Nathan Healey and Michael Obacha. Healey scored 17 points with 13 boards while Obacha had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Burgess and Tab Hamilton had 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Eagles struggled shooting the ball in the first half, making 9-of-28 as the Mountaineers took a 33-20 lead at halftime.
ASU added to that advantage, leading by as many as 17 points with less than two minutes gone in the second half.
The Mountaineers got the lead back to 17 with 8:44 remaining before the Eagles mounted a charge. GSU began to press the Mountaineers and were able to force turnovers which brought the Eagles back into the game.
The pressure worked as the Eagles out-scored the Mountaineers 22-5 over the final 8:44. A big jumper by Cameron Baskerville who added his eighth point of the night cut the lead to three points with a minute remaining. ASU got on track from the free throw line in the final minute, making four-straight from the line to keep the lead at three.
Down by just three points in the final 20 seconds of the game, Appalachian State missed a pair of free throws on the hand of Obacha. Reed came down the floor and made the clutch three-pointer, his first of the night with nine seconds remaining to tie the game at 57-57. The Mountaineers were unable to score in the final possession of regulation as the game went to an extra frame.
GSU got the first points of overtime, but the Mountaineers would answer with four-straight points to take a 61-59 lead into the final two minutes of overtime. Roberts made a free throw with 1:29 remaining to cut the lead to one point. An empty trip by the Mountaineers paved the way for the Eagles to take the lead 62-61 on a pair of free throws by Reed with 28 seconds remaining.
The Mountaineers, however, got the game-winning shot from Burgess with 12 seconds left on the clock. GSU took a pair of jumpers that would have tied the game, but missed both opportunities in the final three seconds.
Next up for the Eagles is a Saturday afternoon matinee against Western Carolina. The game in Cullowhee starts from 2 p.m. inside the Ramsey Center.