CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team held The Citadel to just 17 points in the second half and shot a season-high 58.3 percent to win 73-52 Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House.
The victory is the second in a row for the Eagles who move to 11-5 overall and 4-2 in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs drop to 5-10 and 0-6.
In the final 20 minutes The Citadel shot just 26.9 percent after hitting 53.8 percent in the first half.
“I thought we communicated better (in the second half),” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We switched some things and I thought our communication was better. We did a better job contesting their shots and we were more intense. Just like the other night, I thought we were a more intense team in the second half.”
Georgia Southern senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led all scorers with 20 points on nine of 13 shooting. He was 6-for-8 from the floor in the first half, part of a 65.2 percent effort as a team.
“We definitely wanted to get the ball inside,” said Price. “I thought we did a really nice job with that. They started the game small and we said we needed to get inside and our guys did a good job getting the ball inside to him and he did a nice job finishing.”
Both the 65.2 percent shooting in the first half and 58.3 percent overall are season highs.
Georgia Southern blew the game open with a 14-0 run that lasted nearly seven minutes.
Senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) and freshman Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) contributed 12 points apiece while Anthony Marshall
(Lake Worth, Fla.) added 11. All of Foreman’s and Powers’ scoring came from behind the 3-point line and Foreman dished out a season-high-tying nine assists.
The battle of the boards belonged to Georgia Southern, 39-14 who also held a 13-9 advantage on its offensive end. The Citadel was not able to turn their five offensive rebounds into points.
“We just had such a huge height advantage,” said Price. “They were playing four guards. We knew inside and on the glass was a part of the game we could take advantage of and that came true.”
The Eagles complete their three-game road trip next week with games at Elon Thursday and Appalachian State on Saturday.
The victory is the second in a row for the Eagles who move to 11-5 overall and 4-2 in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs drop to 5-10 and 0-6.
In the final 20 minutes The Citadel shot just 26.9 percent after hitting 53.8 percent in the first half.
“I thought we communicated better (in the second half),” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “We switched some things and I thought our communication was better. We did a better job contesting their shots and we were more intense. Just like the other night, I thought we were a more intense team in the second half.”
Georgia Southern senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led all scorers with 20 points on nine of 13 shooting. He was 6-for-8 from the floor in the first half, part of a 65.2 percent effort as a team.
“We definitely wanted to get the ball inside,” said Price. “I thought we did a really nice job with that. They started the game small and we said we needed to get inside and our guys did a good job getting the ball inside to him and he did a nice job finishing.”
Both the 65.2 percent shooting in the first half and 58.3 percent overall are season highs.
Georgia Southern blew the game open with a 14-0 run that lasted nearly seven minutes.
Senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) and freshman Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) contributed 12 points apiece while Anthony Marshall
(Lake Worth, Fla.) added 11. All of Foreman’s and Powers’ scoring came from behind the 3-point line and Foreman dished out a season-high-tying nine assists.
The battle of the boards belonged to Georgia Southern, 39-14 who also held a 13-9 advantage on its offensive end. The Citadel was not able to turn their five offensive rebounds into points.
“We just had such a huge height advantage,” said Price. “They were playing four guards. We knew inside and on the glass was a part of the game we could take advantage of and that came true.”
The Eagles complete their three-game road trip next week with games at Elon Thursday and Appalachian State on Saturday.
