PENSACOLA, Fla. – No. 7-seed Georgia Southern slowly pulled away from No. 10-seed ULM over the final seven minutes and 29 seconds as the Eagles picked up a 66-57 win over ULM Thursday night in the second round of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Georgia Southern's (17-15 overall) Jalen Finch scored 10 consecutive points for the Eagles in the final three minutes of the game, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and hitting both ends of a 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity in the stretch as the lead grew from two points to eight points.
Tyren Moore led Georgia Southern with 16 points, while Kamari Brown added 15, Finch had 14 and Tai Strickland added 10. Brown finished a rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. ULM was led by
Jamari Blackmon's 15 points in his final collegiate game, while
Langston Powell and
Tyreke Locure added 11 points each.
Thomas Howell finished a point shy of his second-consecutive double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Georgia Southern was without leading scorer and Second-Team All-SBC selection Andrei Savrasov, who suffered an injury in practice and was wearing a protective boot. The Eagles switched to a four-guard lineup without Savrasov, forcing the Warhawks to adjust on the fly.
The game featured six ties and seven lead changes. Georgia Southern led by six early, 13-7 with 13:31 to play in the half, before ULM rallied to go in front on a 10-2 run, capped by Blackmon's 3-pointer, to go ahead 17-15 with 9:52 to go before halftime. The Warhawks eventually stretched the lead to six, 25-19, on free throws by
Savion Gallion. The Eagles answered, though, scoring 11 of the last 15 points of the half, regaining the lead on Strickland's 3-point play. Georgia Southern led 30-29 at halftime.
Georgia Southern used a 3-pointer by Brown and a free throw by Kaden Archie to push the lead to five, 34-29. ULM answered as Blackmon hit a scoop-shot layup and Powell buried a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 34 with 15:47 to go. The game was played within one possession from the 16:08 mark until 3:45 remained, when Brown hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to extend Georgia Southern's lead to 51-47. The lead changed hands four times and was tied four times in that span.
ULM couldn't get any closer than two down the stretch, at 51-49 on
Tyreke Locure's jumper with 3:26 left. Finch answered with a 3-pointer at the other end, and provided answers to each of ULM's next two scores as well, building the lead to eight, 61-53, with 40 seconds left.
The Warhawks shot 33% (20-of-61) from the field, 21% (6-of-28) from 3-point range and made 11-of-14 (79%) free-throw attempts. Georgia Southern shot 43% (23-of-54) from the floor, 50% (9-of-18) from 3-point range and made 11-of-18 (61%) of its free-throw attempts.
ULM outrebounded Georgia Southern, 39-34, while pulling down 11 offensive rebounds.
