A scoring drought of over four minutes in the first half for Georgia Southern men's basketball allowed South Alabama to pull further ahead and never look back as the Eagles fell 78-65 on Wednesday.
The Eagles (5-19, 5-7 Sun Belt) took an 8-7 lead after the under-16 media timeout, but that would be their largest of the day over the Jaguars (11-13, 4-8), who stormed ahead for the remainder of the first half.
Georgia Southern did manage to tie the game up with a little over five minutes remaining following an Avantae Parker layup and Nate Brafford free throws, but a 10-2 run to end the frame put the home team up 41-33 at halftime.
Neither team scored for the first two minutes of the second half. USA went on a quick 9-1 run to extend the lead to 16 following a double technical and ejection assessed to head coach Charlie Henry.
The Eagles only got as close as nine by the end of the game, dropping to 5-7 in the Sun Belt and losing 78-65.
Derrick Harris Jr. went 6-13 from the field and recorded 15 points to lead the Eagles. Nate Brafford joined him in double digits, tying a career-high with 13.
The Eagles only grabbed 23 rebounds as a team, their lowest total since Dec. 2 against Jacksonville.
GS rounds out the MAC/SBC Challenge against Buffalo on Saturday.
