Tyson Brown scored a career-high 17 with 13 rebounds and added five assists and four blocks, a stat line achieved just three other times in the NCAA this season as Georgia Southern men's basketball (14-13, 6-8 SBC) earned a nailbiting win over Old Dominion (11-16, 7-7) on Saturday afternoon.
"We got off to such a great start, but we have to sustain that for the rest of the game," Bice-Peace head coach Charlie Henry said. "If you've got a team down, you've just got to build on your lead and keep playing with the same urgency and desperation so that they don't see any life. They saw it and had a chance at the end to tie the game… Tyson was unbelievable tonight."
Despite surrendering the first basket, the Eagles charged ahead in the first four minutes of the game, going on a 14-2 run capped by a Nate Brafford steal and slam with just over 15 minutes left. The lead was 20-11 at the under-12 media timeout.
Old Dominion cut into the deficit and made it a three-point game, but the Eagles put the foot back on the gas over the next several ticks. Brown had six points over three minutes, also finding Adante' Holiman for a corner three to push it back to 13 at 5:15.
Eren Banks converted the Eagles' last FG of the half to lead 42-27. GS shot an even 50 percent overall and knocked down eight threes in the opening stanza.
The Eagles - and Brown - started strong in the second half. His tip-in at 16:58 put the home team up 50-32, doing so again a few possessions later to keep it at an 18-point lead.
The lead evaporated twice in the final 12 minutes of the game - down to seven at 9:27 and three in the final seconds, but the Eagles continued to weather the storm. Banks' layup at 6:23 extended the lead back to 15.
ODU went on several runs to get back close late. With nine seconds left, a layup cut the lead to three. The Eagles turned the ball over on the next possession, leading to a three attempt which hit back iron. Brown grabbed his 13th rebound of the game and sent it long to Banks, who dribbled the clock out and sealed a 78-75 win.
Brown had a ridiculous stat line, scoring a career-best 17 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and adding career-bests of four blocks and five assists. That exact stat line has been achieved by just three other players in the NCAA this season and 34 times overall in the last 20 years, and Brown joins Johni Broome (Auburn, Nov. 27), Danny Wolf (Michigan, Jan. 4) and Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB, Jan. 25) as players to do so this season.
"I was just trying to play hard and sustain the effort throughout 40 minutes," Brown said. "That was it. Once I get a couple of rebounds, I can get myself going. I got a quick bucket to start the game and that helped me sustain the effort for the rest of it."
Holiman recorded his fourth game in the last five with 20+ points and his eighth of the season, while Banks added 14 and three steals. Eugene Brown III and Braylhan Thomas both had seven rebounds to finish just behind Brown.
The Eagles shot 40.6 percent overall and 11-34 from three-point land.
The Eagles will hope to take this effort on the road to battle App State on Thursday.
