The Eagles never fully recovered from their last meeting with The Citadel, and on Monday they relished in sweet revenge.
A miracle last-second shot by Donny McClendon on Jan. 13 forced overtime and led to a 74-69 Citadel victory over Georgia Southern, the unofficial beginning to a string of close losses for the Eagles. Over a month later and with the Bulldogs on their home court, the Eagles avenged the defeat, using a second-half surge and season-high shooting to carry them to an 81-62 Southern Conference victory Monday.
“That loss really hurt us, and we thought it made our season go the way it’s going right now,” said senior guard Donte Gennie, who finished with a career-high 30 points. Gennie was 11-for-13 from the field and 6-for-6 on 3-pointers, which tied for fifth best in school history. It was the first 30-point performance by an Eagle since former GSU standout Elton Nesbitt hung 30 on Charleston on Feb. 13, 2006.
“He was tremendous,” Eagle coach Jeff Price said. “He shot the ball great. He led us well on the court. He played with confidence. He defended well, and he played like a fifth-year senior. We need him to continue to do that.”
Gennie fueled Georgia Southern’s strong start to the final period, which opened with Dwayne Forman, Jimmy Tobias and Gennie hitting consecutive 3s to give the Eagles a 41-30 edge at the 18:05 mark. That was the beginning of a 22-8 GSU run, which saw the Eagles score 20 points in the first five minutes of the second half.
“Coach had been preaching that we needed to come out with a lot of intensity, so we tried to come out very aggressive on the offensive and defensive end,” Gennie said. “I think that’s what made us a better team tonight.”
Said Price: “We were a lot more aggressive in the second half — I thought you could really tell the difference. We hit two 3s right away. Offense creates intensity, and we didn’t have much offense in the first half. Those first couple of minutes were really big.”
The Eagles shot 59.2 percent from the field (29 of 49) and sunk 69.2 percent of their 3-pointers (9 of 13) — both season highs.
“When you (shoot like) that, it makes up for a lot of things,” Price said. “Anytime you are shooting the ball well, everything else goes better. We’ve struggled offensively all year, and it was good to see us in the second half have a good offensive half. Maybe that’ll give us some confidence, and we’ll start being aggressive and score more points”
Georgia Southern improved to 12-15 overall and 5-11 in the league with the win, which ended Georgia Southern’s four-game home losing streak. The Bulldogs fell to 7-20 and 4-12. The Eagles are now in sole position of fourth place in the SoCon’s South Division, while the Bulldogs and Wofford are tied for fifth.
Louis Graham added 14 points for the Eagles, and Foreman added 12 and a game-high eight assists.
The Eagles shut out the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Kevin Hammack, for the first 16:10 of the game before the senior guard scored The Citadel’s final nine points of the opening half. He finished with 18 points, while McLendon scored 16 and Bryan Streeter had 12.
Georgia Southern travels to Wofford for a 7 p.m. game Thursday before concluding the regular season Saturday, hosting Charleston for a 1 p.m. game which will be televised by ESPN2.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
A miracle last-second shot by Donny McClendon on Jan. 13 forced overtime and led to a 74-69 Citadel victory over Georgia Southern, the unofficial beginning to a string of close losses for the Eagles. Over a month later and with the Bulldogs on their home court, the Eagles avenged the defeat, using a second-half surge and season-high shooting to carry them to an 81-62 Southern Conference victory Monday.
“That loss really hurt us, and we thought it made our season go the way it’s going right now,” said senior guard Donte Gennie, who finished with a career-high 30 points. Gennie was 11-for-13 from the field and 6-for-6 on 3-pointers, which tied for fifth best in school history. It was the first 30-point performance by an Eagle since former GSU standout Elton Nesbitt hung 30 on Charleston on Feb. 13, 2006.
“He was tremendous,” Eagle coach Jeff Price said. “He shot the ball great. He led us well on the court. He played with confidence. He defended well, and he played like a fifth-year senior. We need him to continue to do that.”
Gennie fueled Georgia Southern’s strong start to the final period, which opened with Dwayne Forman, Jimmy Tobias and Gennie hitting consecutive 3s to give the Eagles a 41-30 edge at the 18:05 mark. That was the beginning of a 22-8 GSU run, which saw the Eagles score 20 points in the first five minutes of the second half.
“Coach had been preaching that we needed to come out with a lot of intensity, so we tried to come out very aggressive on the offensive and defensive end,” Gennie said. “I think that’s what made us a better team tonight.”
Said Price: “We were a lot more aggressive in the second half — I thought you could really tell the difference. We hit two 3s right away. Offense creates intensity, and we didn’t have much offense in the first half. Those first couple of minutes were really big.”
The Eagles shot 59.2 percent from the field (29 of 49) and sunk 69.2 percent of their 3-pointers (9 of 13) — both season highs.
“When you (shoot like) that, it makes up for a lot of things,” Price said. “Anytime you are shooting the ball well, everything else goes better. We’ve struggled offensively all year, and it was good to see us in the second half have a good offensive half. Maybe that’ll give us some confidence, and we’ll start being aggressive and score more points”
Georgia Southern improved to 12-15 overall and 5-11 in the league with the win, which ended Georgia Southern’s four-game home losing streak. The Bulldogs fell to 7-20 and 4-12. The Eagles are now in sole position of fourth place in the SoCon’s South Division, while the Bulldogs and Wofford are tied for fifth.
Louis Graham added 14 points for the Eagles, and Foreman added 12 and a game-high eight assists.
The Eagles shut out the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Kevin Hammack, for the first 16:10 of the game before the senior guard scored The Citadel’s final nine points of the opening half. He finished with 18 points, while McLendon scored 16 and Bryan Streeter had 12.
Georgia Southern travels to Wofford for a 7 p.m. game Thursday before concluding the regular season Saturday, hosting Charleston for a 1 p.m. game which will be televised by ESPN2.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
