KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Freshman Braylhan Thomas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and added 11 points to join three others in double figures as Georgia Southern men's basketball (13-12, 5-7 SBC) sailed to a dominant win at Western Michigan (7-16, 4-6 MAC) on Saturday.
"It's a great win. It's great to leave out of here feeling good," Bice-Peace head men's basketball coach Charlie Henry said. "It's tough to win on the road, and they got off to a great start in the game. Again, it's great to walk out of here feeling well."
Ahead 3-2 briefly early on, the Broncos pushed the lead up to seven two separate times, the last of which came at 13:19. An 11-0 run flipped the momentum on its head, highlighted by an and-one conversion by Bradley Douglas and a three by Eren Banks.
The Eagles used the remainder of the first half to dominate. Banks nailed another three to push the lead to eight at 4:14.
A 13-0 run over the final 3:20 was the main highlight. Nakavieon White found Collin Kuhl on a lob to kick things off, Adante' Holiman was perfect on a pair of threes, and Douglas again converted an extra point as the Eagles were cruising.
GS shot an even 50 percent from the field and three headed into the break up by 15, their second-biggest halftime lead of the season.
The Broncos never got closer than 11 for the remainder of the game. Tyson Brown had six points early in the half and 13 overall in the second frame, going 6-7 from the field.
Thomas nailed a three and forced a Western Michigan timeout up by 16 at 12:20, the Eagles' largest of the day to that point.
GS ballooned its lead to 22 after a Nate Brafford corner three, and furthered it to 25 after a Kuhl lay-in with 2:40 left.
Luke Keller and Tyler Bush saw the floor in the final minute and aided in Thomas recording the double-double, converting an and-one with 21 seconds left and winning 83-57.
Thomas' 11 points and 13 rebounds earned him his first career double-double, the first freshman with one since Avantae Parker in the Sun Belt Tournament in 2023-24 and the first freshman with at least 11 points and 13 rebounds since Louis Graham on 3/3/05.
"We just were ready to win coming off the flight," Thomas said. "We had a good shootaround, we were ready to play well and win, and head back home."
Douglas led all Eagles with 15, while Brown (13) and Holiman (12) joined him in double figures. Both White and Douglas had seven assists, the first Eagles teammates to do so since Donte Gennie and Terry Williams on 1/17/05.
GS had a season-high 26 assists, the most for the team since 27 against Webber on 11/13/15. In the win, they shot 50.8 percent from the field, grabbed 45 rebounds, and made 14 threes.
The Eagles return home for a big Sun Belt matchup with James Madison on Thursday.
