It’s tough to open tournament play without your leading scorer and leading rebounder, but that’s what the Georgia Southern men’s basketball team were facing Thursday night. Playing without Andrei Savrasov in the opening round of the Sun Belt tournament the Eagles got a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures as they knocked off ULM 66-57.
“We made big plays when we had to and did a great job defensively and, on the glass,” said Eagle coach Brain Burg. “We wanted to get out and run, but before you can do that you have to make a defensive stop and get a rebound. I think our staff came up with a great gameplan tonight and our players executed it.”
Georgia Southern held ULM to 33 percent shooting, and Eagle senior Jalen Finch scored 10 straight points during a critical stretch late in the game to help the Eagles secure the victory.
The Warhawks made a late run to get within two as Tyreke Locure hit a jumper to make it 51-49 with 3:26 left in the game. Finch then scored the Eagles next 10 points, starting with a step-back triple. The fifth-year senior added a pull-up jumper on Georgia Southern's next trip down the floor, then a spot-up 3-pointer off an assist by Brown and finally a pair of free throws that gave the Eagles a 61-53 lead with 40.4 seconds remaining.
“Jalen made some big shots in the second half,” Burg said. “He came through at key times, but we had key guys make big plays throughout the game. ULM has a couple of great scorers and I thought our guys also did a great job making things tough for them.”
Burg was also proud that the team was able to come through without their leading scorer and rebounder in the lineup. Burg said he is hopeful Savravov can return for Saturday, but has confidence in the team regardless of his status.
“We faced some adversity with Andrei’s injury,” said Burg. “He will continue to get rehab and recovery, but if you look at this team there are a lot of guys with a lot of collegiate minutes and have been in conference tournaments. I have confidence in these players and this is they time we need to be playing our best basketball.”
Brown, Strickland and Kaden Archie combined to go 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the last 35 seconds to seal the win. Georgia Southern held ULM to 4 for 17 shooting from the field in the final 11 minutes of the contest. Tyren Moore led the way offensively with 16 points including going 4-5 from three-point range. Kamari Brown had 15 points and nine rebounds, Finch had 14 points and Tai Strickland added 10 points.
The seventh-seeded Eagles (17-15, 9-9) advance to the quarterfinals to face second-seeded Louisiana Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
