On the strength of a career-best 28 points from Adante' Holiman and a clutch three by Bradley Douglas, Georgia Southern men's basketball (10-9, 3-4 SBC) held on for a gritty 67-63 win at Old Dominion.
"I guarantee we're the first team to give up 32 offense rebounds and still win," Bice-Peace head men's basketball coach Charlie Henry said. "Obviously, we got to do a much better job on the glass. We did force them to miss over 50 shots, so our first shot defense was really good. Despite giving up multiple chances, we kept their second chance in check. It didn't lead to as many points as one might think when you hear 32, but we still have to get better from that. It's great to walk out of here with a win."
The Eagles started extremely hot from the field. Holiman drove for a layup, and Eren Banks nailed a three to make it 19-7.
A 7-0 run forced an Old Dominion timeout at 10:28 with the Eagles shooting 50 percent from the field and three.
The lead was pushed to as much as 17 after a Banks layup before the Monarchs began to come back. A 9-0 run over the final four minutes of the half kept the score 30-22 heading into the locker room, with Holiman scoring 12.
Holiman continued to torch the opposition, knocking down a pair of threes before the first media timeout and pushing the lead to 36-27.
The Monarchs kept creeping closer in the ensuing minutes. Tyson Brown hit a runner in the lane to make it 47-44 at 9:37, and Holiman was money from three again, stretching the lead back to six.
ODU ran to a one-point lead at 3:19, its first since the 2-0 lead in the first half. Despite this, Nakavieon White hit an acrobatic floater for his first FG to take it back, and after a beautiful Euro finish by Holiman, the Eagles led by three again.
Leading by two, Douglas sank a clutch three with 34 seconds left to put the lead at two possessions. Nate Brafford made the front end of the one-and-one, sealing a 67-63 win in Norfolk.
Holiman led the way with a career-high 28 and has now scored in double figures in all but one game, making 10-20 from the field and 5-13 from three.
"It was just me being aggressive tonight," Holiman said. "My teammates kept finding me. They found me in some great spots and it was a great team effort."
Douglas (10) was the only other player in double figures.
Avantae Parker had eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and Brown had six points, five rebounds and a career-high three blocks.
The Eagles earned back-to-back road wins for the first time since 1/27 and 1/29/22, and improved to 3-0 against ODU during Henry's tenure. The win came in spite of 32 offensive rebounds for the Monarchs - the first team to win giving up 32 or more offensive rebounds in a regulation game since UMass beat Hofstra despite 36 offensive boards on Dec. 20, 2008.
GS returns to the Hill Wednesday for another crack at Coastal Carolina.
