In a near-repeat of Georgia Southern’s game with Appalachian State on Jan. 24, it took overtime.
    The result was the same — an ASU win.
    The Mountaineers were abysmal from the free-throw line, making only 29 of 43 attempts, but they made all eight in the final 48 seconds of overtime to hold off GSU 91-86 on Thursday in Hanner Fieldhouse.
    “There’s no question we hurt ourselves by fouling,” GSU coach Charlton Young said. “I thought this was our worst game defensively. We gave up 91 points — we haven’t done that in a long time — and they went to the foul line 43 times. It’s hard to win.”
    The Eagles led, 86-83, and looked to get the ball back on a travel by ASU’s Nathan Healy at the half-court line, but Brian Holmes was whistled for a foul, one of 30 whistled on GSU.
    Healy, who led App State with 24 points and added 11 rebounds, made both free throws.
    Georgia Southern’s Eric Ferguson missed a tough layup on the other end, and Jay Canty gave the Mountaineers (10-12, 6-5 Southern Conference) the lead for good with two more foul shots.
    Ferguson led GSU with 23 points.
    The Eagles (10-14, 4-7) led for most of the game, but helped ASU with a barrage of early, second-half fouls in the first two minutes.
    Just 1:41 into the second half, GSU had already committed four fouls, and ASU got into the bonus with 13:08 remaining. It didn’t much help ASU’s cause -- the Mountaineers made only 17 of their 31 attempts in regulation.
    “We have to come out and learn how to close in the first half,” Ferguson said, “and when we’re in a tight game, we need to learn how to finish — come out and play for 40 minutes.”
    As bad as App State was at the line, GSU didn’t help itself, either, making only 15 of 28 tries.
    ASU’s Michael Obacha converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Mountaineers their first lead of the second half, 57-55, with 7:38 to go, a 10-3 run was sparked form the play, and Georgia Southern looked to be out of the game, down 69-62.
    On the next four possessions, the Eagles forced four-straight turnovers and went on a 6-0 run, capped off by a steal and an easy layup by Holmes. The Mountaineers called timeout clinging to a 69-68 lead.
    Four ASU free throws and a pair on the other end by Ferguson made it 73-70 with 38.7 seconds left.
    App State’s Mike Neal missed both free throw shots on the next possession, and C.J. Reed went the distance for a layup.
    On the next possession, Neal went to the line again. He missed them both again.
    Marvin Baynham was fouled underneath the basket on the other end with 3 seconds to go.
    He made one to tie the game, 73-73. He missed the second, to force overtime.
    Reed (19 points), Cleon Roberts (17) and Baynham (11) all had big nights.
    After three early lead changes, the Eagles took the first-half lead for good when Roberts was fouled while scoring and converted the three-point play with 16:43 to go in the first.
    The sequence put GSU aheadby two, and also sparked an 11-3 run that put the Eagles up, 16-9.
    The Eagles missed 6 of their 8 first-half free throws, but that was about the only thing that went wrong. GSU got 3-pointers from Ferguson, Cameron Baskerville and Roberts in the first half, shot 47 percent, won the turnover and rebound battles and took a 37-27 halftime lead.
    “It’s a game of inches,” Young said. “We’ve got to do a better job of separating ourselves so we don’t get ourselves in this situation. I thought the game was lost in the last five minutes of the second half. We came in with a 10-point lead and we had a lot of free throws and open looks.”
    Georgia Southern has a quick turnaround, hosting Western Carolina Saturday at 7 p.m.

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