January 17, 2004
GEORGIA SOUTHERN EDGES FURMAN, 71-67
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jean Francois paced a balanced scoring attack with a game high 16 points and Georgia Southern overcame a pair of eight-point second half deficits to earn its eighth straight victory with a 71-67 triumph over Furman in Southern Conference basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Francois, a junior forward from West Palm Beach, Fla., was followed in the scoring column by Kordel Gibson, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and by Frank Bennett and Elton Nesbitt, who also chipped in 14 points apiece for Georgia Southern (12-3, 3-1 SoCon).
Furman (8-7, 0-4 SoCon), which also placed four players in double figures, got a team high 15 points from Maleye Ndoye.
“I felt our experience paid off down the stretch,” said Georgia Southern head coach Jeff Price. “Furman’s a very good team that played well today, so road wins like this one today are obviously very key in conference play.”
“The biggest factor for us today was turnovers,” commented Furman head coach Larry Davis. “We led by eight in the second half and then turned it over three straight times. We’ve got to learn when to turn on the gas and when to slow down, and that time is now.”
Furman turned the ball of over 18 times against the Eagles, who entered the game as the Southern Conference’s steals leader.
Ahead 32-30 at intermission, Furman used a layup and 3-pointer by Ndoye and a 3-pointer by Robby Bostain to extend its advantage to 40-32 barely two minutes into the second half.
After a Bennett dunk at the 15:53 juncture narrowed the advantage to 42-39, the Paladins answered with a three-point play by Carter and a Bostain layup with 14:31 left to make it 49-41.
Georgia Southern rallied, however, fashioning an 11-2 run behind baskets from Chad Fleming, Bennett, Francois, a three-pointer by Terry Williams, and a layup by Gibson at the 11:12 mark to grab a 52-51 lead, its first of the second half.
The Paladins answered with a pair of jump shots by Ndoye and Prowell for a 55-52 advantage, but a Gibson three-pointer with 8:55 to go tied the game at 55-55. A little over 30 seconds later Gibson drilled another three-pointer to put the Eagles ahead 58-57 and ignite a decisive 8-0 spurt that saw GSU extend its cushion to 63-57 following a dunk by Bennett with 4:52 to go.
Furman twice cut GSU’s advantage to three points down the stretch, but both times the Eagles answered with free throws, including a pair by Francois with just over a minute to go, and by Nesbitt with 27 seconds remaining to make it 69-64 and secure the victory.
Furman outshot Georgia Southern from the field, converting 28-of-57 attempts for 49.1 percent while the Eagles made 28-of-63 attempts for 44.4 percent. GSU canned 7-of-23 three-point attempts and claimed a narrow 35-33 rebounding advantage behind seven boards each from Nesbitt and Chad Fleming. Nesbitt also tallied a game high 19 assists.
Furman’s Tony Carter trailed Ndoye in the scoring column with 13 points and Robby Bostain and Moussa Diagne added 10 points each for the Paladins, who return to action on Monday night when they take on The Citadel in Charleston in a 7:15 p.m. game.
Georgia Southern plays at Wofford Monday night at 7:00 p.m.