Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Western Carolina Downs Georgia Southern, 89-75

Western Carolina 89, Georgia Southern 75

 

CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina jumped out to a 20-point advantage in the second half and held off Georgia Southern down the stretch as the Eagles dropped an 89-75 decision Monday night (Jan. 19). The Eagles (5-10 overall, 3-4 SoCon) lost their second straight to a Southern Conference Divisional leader as the North Division leading Catamounts improved to 9-7 and 4-2.

 

Jake Robinson led four Catamounts in double-figures with 20 points.  Greg Avery came off the bench and scored 17 for WCU, while Brigham Waginger and Harouna Mutombo each added 13 for the Catamounts.  Kendall Russell recorded a game-high 12 rebounds for the host team.

 

Ahead by 10 early in the second half, Western then went on an 11-2 run and eventually led by 20 points at the 12-minute media timeout (69-49). The Eagles cut the deficit to 11 on two occasions, the last when Julian Allen hit a driving lay-in with 4:18 remaining.

 

The Eagles got the ball back with a chance to cut the lead under 10, but missed from long range and that would be the closest they would get. The loss was the second straight against a SoCon Divisional leader (loss Saturday vs. South Division leader Davidson) and ended a streak of three games in five days ? two coming on the road.

 

The Eagles took an early 6-4 lead before Western scored 12 unanswered over the next four minutes. Ben Drayton ended the streak with a 3-pointer.

 

Western went ahead 31-20 with six minutes left but the Eagles scored eight of the next 11 points and would cut the deficit to five points on a couple of occasions. Antonio Hanson hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1.5 seconds left to make it 43-35 at the half.

 

For the second straight game, Drayton led the team in scoring. The true-freshman guard battled through foul trouble in the first half to tally 15 points and did not commit a turnover in 25 minutes.

 

Johnson added a season-high 14 points off the bench, hitting 6-of-8 field goals. He finished two off his career-high, done last year at home against Western.

 

Allen scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and grabbed five rebounds. The Eagles shot 48 percent from the field and 10-of-14 from the free throw line. Western shot 55.6 percent from the field and out-rebounded GS 37-28. Kendall Russell grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for Western.