NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Georgia Southern was outstanding for a half, but after the break Charleston was unstoppable, cruising to a 77-66 victory in the Southern Conference basketball tournament Thursday night.

The loss ended Georgia Southern’s season at 15-16, while Charleston advances to the semifinals to face No. 2 Appalachian State at 8:30 tonight.

Sixth-seeded Georgia Southern led 35-28 at the half before the No. 3 seed Cougars (21-10) opened the final 20 minutes with authority, using a 21-7 run to go up by seven, 49-42, with just under 11 minutes to play. By the five-minute mark, the Cougars’ lead swelled to 12, and the Eagles never came closer than seven before the final buzzer.

“They just came out and took the game from us at the beginning of the second half,” Eagle coach Jeff Price said. “I thought the first five minutes was going to be really important, and I thought they were much more aggressive and showed a tremendous sense of urgency. They stood out there and said, ‘We are going to take this thing.’ To their credit they did a very good job.”

Charleston dominated inside, outscoring the Eagles 40-28 in the paint and owning a 33-28 advantage on the glass. The Cougars cushioned the victory with a late 8-0 run to go up by 16 with a minute and a half to go.

“They really hurt us on the offensive boards,” Price said. “They were getting second shots it seems like every time down the floor. I just think we didn’t do a good job on the glass.”

Louis Graham led four Eagles in double figures with 17 points, while Donte Gennie added 15, Antoine Johnson had 13 and Dwayne Foreman scored 11. The Cougars were led by Dontaye Draper with 23 and Josh Jackson with 16. Jermaine Johnson added 15 and David Lawrence scored 12 for Charleston.

“I told my team from the jump – defense and toughness,” Draper said. “Defense and toughness – that’s what got us through.”

The Eagles were lights out in the first 20 minutes, shooting 68.2 percent from the field and hitting 80 percent of their free throws. Meanwhile, Charleston struggled offensively in the first period, going 33.3 percent from the field. GSU led the entire first half.

But after the break, GSU and Charleston switched roles as the Eagles shot just 39.4 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes while the Cougars hit 66.7 percent of their tries. Charleston took its first lead of the game on a Johnson layup with 13:37 to play and never looked back.

“We just showed a lot of heart and didn’t quit in the second half,” Cougar coach Bobby Cremins said. “We got it going and it was like you couldn’t stop it. Dontaye got us going.”

 Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.