STATESBORO, Ga. --- After Georgia Southern rallied from a seven-point second-half deficit, Elon came back from five down in the last five minutes to win 70-67 Thursday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Elon scored the last four points of the contest and survived a 3-point attempt by GSU senior Donte Gennie (Tallahassee, Fla.) at the buzzer.
The Phoenix snap a six-game losing streak and improve to 6-19 overall and 4-11 in the Southern Conference. The Eagles fall to 11-15 and 4-11.
Elon defeats Georgia Southern for the first time since Dec. 27, 1961, a span of five games.
"We’ve had a lot of close games and I don’t think there’s any question that we had our opportunities, but there haven’t been many games we’ve lost in the first half and this game I thought we lost in the first half," said GSU head coach Jeff Price. "I don’t think we executed our defensive game plan well, we didn’t defend well in the first half - everything was a lot better in the second, but it was a tough loss, they hit some tough shots and we’re going to have to regroup."
Both teams placed four players in double figures. Georgia Southern junior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) recorded his league-leading 12th double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Gennie tallied 18, including four 3-pointers, and senior Jimmy Tobias (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior Matt Fields (Jacksonville,Fla.) poured in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Phoenix were led by Brett James’ 18-point effort and LeVonn Jordan’s 17 markers. Chris Chalko added 13 and Brian Waters had 12.
Elon went on an 8-2 run early in the second half to stretch a one-point lead into a 42-35 advantage, its largest of the game. The Phoenix would not relinquish that lead until Gennie hit the first of two straight three-pointers at the 8:41 mark. Gennie put GSU on top for the first time since 10:39 to play in the first half.
The Eagles maintained control of the game for the next six minutes until James hit a trifecta with 2:37 left to put the Phoenix ahead 66-65.
After a 1:46 span of scoreless basketball, Tobias hit two free throws with 51.7 seconds left to give Georgia Southern a 67-66 edge.
It would be the Eagles’ final points of the contest.
Jordan hit a shot from the left baseline with 29.1 seconds left to give Elon the lead for the final time. James and Waters each went 1-for-2 from the foul line in the final 12 seconds, allowing GSU one last chance. After Waters’ miss, Gennie sprinted with the ball to the top of the key and let a shot fly as the buzzer sounded, but it bounced off the rim and out.
Georgia Southern went 1-for-9 from the field in the last 6:08.
"We missed a lot of wide open shots that we normally don’t miss, but offense wasn’t a problem in this game," said Price. "We were coming off a great defensive effort at Furman where we held them to one field goal in the last six minutes, and I was really disappointed in our defensive effort after coming off such a good defensive game."
Elon shot 49.1 percent from the floor, including 53.6 percent in the first half. GSU held the Phoenix to a 5-for-16 effort from behind the three-point line.
"We just need to keep battling away. One thing we don’t need to do is quit and our guys haven’t quit all year. It’s been a tough season for us, both from a health standpoint and losing close games."
Georgia Southern returns to action Monday when it hosts The Citadel at 7:30 p.m.