An 11-22 effort from the line and timely stops by the opposition pushed Georgia Southern men's basketball (11-10, 4-5 SBC) to its first loss in two weeks as Marshall (13-9, 6-3) returned home with a 71-67 win.
3,135 spectators packed into the Hill Convocation Center - the largest crowd in the arena's young history for a men's basketball game.
GS made four of its first five shots, stretching an early lead to 13-4 after a Tyson Brown layup and Eren Banks converted both free throws.
The Herd battled back over the next few minutes, tying the game at 16 at the under-eight. After a brief two-point lead, Banks cashed in a three to put the home team back up by one.
Marshall stretched the lead to seven late, but Adante' Holiman scored 10 points over the course of two minutes to knot things back up. Eugene Brown III's three with 1:01 remaining ensured the Eagles a 37-35 lead at halftime.
The two teams went back and forth over the first five minutes of the second half, but Bradley Douglas pushed the Eagles to a five-point lead at 13:13 - the largest it was for the rest of the game. Marshall regained the lead and got up by four over the next few minutes.
Nate Brafford cut the lead back to one, trailing 63-62 at 3:54, but crucial possessions did not go the Eagles' way for the rest of the game.
Tyson Brown couldn't get a kick-back out-of-bounds possession to go off a Marshall player, and despite another Brafford three with 48 seconds left to get within two, the Eagles couldn't corral a defensive rebound and had to foul. Trailing by four on the ensuing possession, the Eagles turned the ball over and dropped the home contest by a score of 71-67.
Holiman (26) had another sensational effort, notching three assists, a block and two steals in the loss, his fourth 20-point effort of the season. Brafford tied a career-best with 13, converting four threes to set a new career-best in the category. Brown snatched seven boards to pace the team.
The Eagles head back to the road for a matchup with Troy on Thursday, the team's first trip there since the 2020-21 season.