LAS VEGAS, Nev. —Georgia Southern opened its trip to Las Vegas with a 63-52 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday afternoon at the Orleans Arena.
    The Eagles withstood a late MVSU run and finished the game with an 8-0 run of their own in the waning minutes.
    “I’m very proud that we responded when they threw a haymaker late, and got the victory,” GSU coach Charlton Young said. “In the first half we really played the game the way we should play. In the second half, we took a lot of quick shots and that knocked us out of our flow.”
    Eric Ferguson led all scorers with 19 points and seven rebounds as the junior moved within five points of becoming the 39th member of the 1,000-point club at Georgia Southern. Ferguson, however, was fouled out with 3:52 remaining as the Statesboro native played just 25 minutes in the contest.
    Point guard C.J. Reed scored 12 points on an 8 of 8 afternoon from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a season-high eight rebounds with three assists in the victory. Tre Bussey had 10 points with four assists.
    The Eagles’ duo from Miami Norland High School, Cleon Roberts and Marvin Baynham, scored nine and seven points respectively in the winning effort. GSU took care of the rebounding glass by out-rebounding the Delta Devils 40-29. Georgia Southern scored 36 points in the paint, the highest total for the Eagles against Division-I opposition this season.
    The Delta Devils were led by 15 points from Matt Smith while Darius Tomlin scored 10 points, all in the second half. MVSU’s leading scorer on the season, Davon Usher, was held to 10 points, limiting the Devils’ offensive options.
    GSU carried a 33-19 lead into the halftime break as MVSU had its lowest-scoring first half of the season. Immediately out of the break, GSU posted its largest lead of the game, 16 points, with 19:26 left in the game.
    The Devils cut into the lead, trailing by five points with 11:58 remaining. Over the next five minutes GSU got the lead back to 10 points twice, but saw the Delta Devils get within three points at the 3:52 media timeout.
    From that point on it was all Georgia Southern as the Eagles out-scored the Delta Devils 8-0 down the stretch. A layup from Baskerville as well as a second-chance deuce from Baynham got the job done from the field while Reed made four free throws for the victory.
    The win advances Georgia Southern to the lower division championship game of the tournament at 6:15 p.m. (ET). The Eagles will face the winner of the day’s second game between Cal State Bakersfield and North Florida.