SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for December 28, 2007
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 78, TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 69
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS --- The Georgia Southern men’s basketball team shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half and led by as many as 18 points in the final minutes to cruise to a 78-69 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday night at the American Bank Center.
GSU improves to 9-2 on the season while TAMUCC drops to 2-8. The contest was the second game of the Flint Hills Resources/Islander Invitational in Corpus Christi.
Senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored a team-high 19 points in just 16 minutes of action. He shot 7-for-11 from the floor and hit all four of his free throw attempts. He added two blocks and two steals.
“I thought Louis shot the ball really well,” said GSU head coach Jeff Price. “It’s a shame he picked up two early fouls because he scored our first four points. We’ve got to find a way to keep him on the floor longer but I thought his play on both ends was good.”
Freshman Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) hit double-figures for the sixth straight game with 11 points, nine in the second half. Senior Matthew Fields (Jacksonville, Fla.) led the rebounding efforts with a career-high-tying 10.
Georgia Southern trailed by as many as seven in the first half and didn’t lead until a lay-up by junior Trumaine Pearson (Stuart, Fla.) with 5:22 remaining before halftime.
The Eagles never gave up the lead again.
A 3-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the first half by sophomore Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) broke a 37-37 tie. The momentum continued into the second half as a 7-0 run stretched the lead to double-digits with 13:29 to play. The Islanders got no closer than eight the rest of the way.
“The first 10-to-12 minutes we looked like we had taken four days off, and I thought in the last 28 (minutes) we really settled down and played like we play,” said Price. “We pushed the ball well in transition and I thought our change in defenses hurt them. I thought our man and zone defenses were really good. We struggled a bit on the boards but we knew their strength was rebounding and they did a good job rebounding the ball.”
The Islanders’ Justin Reynolds paced all players with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Daniels added 13 points.
The Eagles face No. 25 Rhode Island (12-1) Saturday at 6 p.m. EST in the championship game.
CAL STATE FULLERTON 103, FURMAN 72
MORAGE, CALIF. -- Josh Akognon tallied a career-high 31 points and Cal State Fullerton buried 15 three-pointers to rout Furman 103-72 in the opening game of the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic Friday evening at McKeon Pavilion on the St. Mary’s College campus.
The Titans connected on 10-of-18 first half treys and shot 52.6% from the field to build a 52-36 halftime lead. Scott Cutley added 22 points as Fullerton pulled away shooting 52.8% after the break. Frank Robinson added 17 points, Marcio Lassiter 11 and Marcus Crenshaw 10 to give the Titans five players in double figures.
The 103 points allowed by Furman was the most since Louisville posted 104 against the Paladins in a December 22, 2002, game at Freedom Hall.
Despite being undone by the Titans 15-of-30 effort from beyond the arc and 21 Paladin turnovers, Furman shot a season-high 50.0% (23-46) from the floor while connecting on 8-of-22 treys and 18-of-20 free throws. Alex Opacic led the way for Furman with 19 points and five rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Justin Dehm added 15 points on the strength of a 9-for-10 effort at the charity stripe.
Cal State Fullerton outscored the Paladins 40-28 in the paint, registered 18 points of turnovers and totaled 19 second chance points to improve to 7-3 on the season. Furman, who was outrebounded 40-22, slipped to 0-11.
The Paladins conclude their seven-game road trip in the consolation game on Saturday night against the loser of tonight’s St. Mary’s versus Howard matchup. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.