PENSACOLA, Fla.– Eren Banks nailed a jumper and put Georgia Southern men's basketball up 13, forcing a South Alabama timeout at 10:28 of the first half. While the Jaguars made it close toward the end of the game, the Eagles never trailed in a 76-71 victory in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
"They changed some things from the last time we played them, and I thought we did a good job of preparing for that," head coach Charlie Henry said. "It's tournament basketball. We knew they had fight in them, and we didn't want them to make a run, but we knew it would be a 40-minute game."
The ninth-seeded Eagles (9-23, 8-10 Sun Belt) rolled to that 13-point lead early on despite turning the ball over several times.
After Avantae Parker made it an 11-point lead, the Jaguars (16-16, 8-10) went on a run, shrinking the deficit to a 37-34 mark at halftime.
Nate Brafford sunk a corner three at the 13:15 mark to stretch the advantage back to nine points, and another by Cam Bryant forced a Jags timeout with the Eagles leading 58-46.
South Alabama crept back into the game late. A large amount of fouls were called to bring it to a two-point game with 1:38 left, but a huge offensive rebound by Bryant restarted the shot clock.
Malik Tidwell hit a dagger step-back three with 17 seconds left to make it a five-point lead, and the Eagles hit all their free throws to escape with a 76-71 win.
Five different Eagles scored 10 or more points for the third time this season, as Tyren Moore (18), Eren Banks (14), Brafford (13), Parker (10) and Bryant (10) all reached the mark.
The Eagles set season highs in blocks (10) and rebounds (49) in the win, with Parker picking up his first-career double-double by grabbing 12 rebounds. His six blocks tied a program record.
"We had a gameplan and we stuck to it today," Parker said. "That's really all there was to it. Coach gave it to us, and we listened."
The Eagles made nine threes, reaching 300 on the season, three from tying the program record of 303 set in 2016-17. The three-game winning streak is the team's longest of the year.
Georgia Southern will face Appalachian State on Saturday for the third time this season in the quarterfinals.
