Using the second 20-point effort of the season from Adante' Holiman and a double-double from Tyson Brown, Georgia Southern men's basketball (5-2) closed out Hanner Fieldhouse with a 64-54 win over West Georgia (0-6) on Saturday.
Early on, it was a defensive battle with the score knotted at nine with under 12 minutes remaining. Holiman drained a three following the timeout to push the Eagles up 16-12 at the under-eight.
UWG went the next three minutes without recording a point with the Eagles beginning to pull away. Nakavieon White, who recorded 10 of the Eagles 24 first-half points, drove for a nice score and made it a 24-17 game with 1:12 left, which would remain the score until halftime.
The teams combined for 16 made field goals in the first half, but the Eagles cashed in on nine of those, holding UWG to a 0-11 mark from three.
The offenses picked it up in the second half. The Wolves cut the deficit to as little as two points, but a much-needed three for Dontae Horne at 14:18 stretched it back to a seven-point game - extending to nine after a Horne steal and Eugene Brown III slam dunk at the other end.
Following UWG cutting it back to two points at 8:56, the Eagles heated up from beyond the arc. Nate Brafford hit a corner three, Holiman sunk a pair and Horne cashed one in over the next six minutes of game time to lead 58-46 with 2:55 left.
Horne's three-pointer at 1:27 was the final Eagles field goal at Hanner Fieldhouse as UWG couldn't make it any closer. The Eagles cemented a perfect 3-0 mark at Hanner this season with a 64-54 win.
Holiman recorded his second 20-point effort of the season, reaching an even 20 in his first start of the new campaign, going 7-14 from the field and tying a career-best with five made threes, his second time doing so this season.
"We were getting good shots in the first half, but they just weren't falling," Holiman said. "It was all about locking in defensively and trusting that those shots would fall in the second half."
Horne (11), White (10) and Tyson Brown (10) joined him in double figures, the latter of whom nabbed his second career double-double and first by an Eagle this season by also grabbing a game-high 12 boards.
The Eagles finish the chapter of their history at Hanner Fieldhouse with a 480-206 record and will open the new arena on Dec. 7.
After the Thanksgiving holiday, GS will travel to Des Moines to take on Drake on Nov. 30.
