Though only a junior, Georgia Southern’s Mike Hughes is a three-year starter and the seasoned veteran on this season’s squad.
    And while Tookie Brown and Ike Smith have often hogged the stat sheet, Hughes showed exactly why he is the team’s captain Monday night.
    Hughes led all scorers with 20 points and saved his best for last. Trailing by a point, Hughes drilled a 3-pointer to stake the Eagles (16-8, 9-2 Sun Belt) with 2:02 to play. Hughes got the ball again after an Eagle defensive stop, but lost control as he drove to the rim. Undeterred, Hughes stole the ball right back, hitting a layup and completing a three-point play after drawing a foul to bury the Ragin’ Cajuns (14-10, 4-7).
    “I just tried to make a play,” Hughes said. “It might have been mostly luck. But it’s a big game and we needed to get the ball back and score.”
    Hughes said that he’s still struggling to be the team’s leader, but his coach doesn’t seem to hold the same opinion.
    “Mike is definitely a leader,” GS coach Mark Byington said. “He’s a kind of quiet guy, but that means that everyone listens when he has something to say. He’s tough and determined. When our team takes on Mike’s personality, we’re better, and that’s what happened tonight.”
    It seemed that even a captain and a veteran leader couldn’t save the Eagles early in the second half.
    A jumper by B.J. Gladden staked the Eagles to a 14-point lead with 1:53 to go in the first half, only to watch that lead melt away to a 2-point advantage at halftime. The UL Lafayette run featured some good shots, but was also helped along by some questionable foul calls and a dead ball technical foul called on Smith with little explanation.
    The halftime break did nothing to cool off the Cajuns as ULL continued to hit on all cylinders. 3’s by Jay Wright (17 points) and Justin Miller (18) capped a 28-7 run that left the Eagles trailing by seven points with 13:23 to play.
    From there, the Eagles started to grind, whittling the deficit down slowly before Smith (18 points) tied the game with a driving jumper and pushed the Eagles ahead with a subsequent free throw with 3:14 to play.
    The lead changed hands four times in the next minute and change before Hughes’ 3-pointer put the Eagles in front for good.
    “We came out and played 17 great minutes to start the game,” Byington said. “It was rough for a while, but we finished with three really good minutes to end it. No wins are easy in this conference and it only gets tougher the later you get in the season.”
    Smith retained his status as the conference’s leading scorer and Brown will stay in second place despite being held to 11 points.
    “Tookie and Jay (Wright) really went at it,” Byington said. “Neither had a great offensive night, but that’s because they are two great players and great defenders who were making things tough on each other.”
    With the win, the Eagles maintained their spot in the current three-way tie atop the Sun Belt as both Arkansas State and Georgia State also notched wins Monday night. Georgia Southern will hit the road later this week for a Saturday game at Coastal Carolina, followed by a visit to Appalachian State next Monday night.