UNCG - Georgia Southern Box Score
Box Score
Ricky Hickman led UNCG with 19 points |
GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro freshman Kyle Hines grabbed a Fleming Gymnasium record 18 rebounds to go with 16 points and six blocked shots, but it wasn't enough as Georgia Southern handed the Spartans their second straight home loss, 85-79, in Southern Conference men's basketball action Tuesday night.
The Eagles (15-8, 8-3 SoCon) were led by Donte Gennie's 20 points. Jean Francois added 19 points for the Eagles, while Elton Nesbit added 17 points, including 6-for-6 from the line in the final 1:36.
Hines, a native of Sicklerville, NJ, broke the record of 15 rebounds accomplished three times before by UNCG players. The Southern Conference's leading rebounder recorded his 10th double-double of the season, also tops in the SoCon. After being held without a block for the first time all season in UNCG's loss to Davidson on Saturday night, Hines took 16 seconds to record his first swat on Monday. He finished the night with six rejections to raise his UNCG single-season record total to 85, eight shy of the Southern Conference's freshman record.
UNCG also got 19 points and five assists from Ricky Hickman, 14 points and eight rebounds from Ronnie Burrell and 14 points from Ray Bristow.
“Defensively, we didn't do a good job early tonight,” said UNCG coach Fran McCaffery. “We did a better job on them in the second half. Ronnie (Burrell) was a little under the weather tonight, so we knew we were going to have to sit him down a little more tonight. We were only going to get 30 minutes out of him, rather than his usual 36 or 37. Kyle, however, was amazing. He knew we needed him to rebound the basketball tonight and he did a tremendous job.
“We had too many turnovers,” said McCaffery. “You are going to have some with that kind of tempo. But 19 is too many. Fourteen or fifteen can be expected in that kind of game with the running and pressing that was going on. But we can't afford to turn the ball over 19 times.”
UNCG, which has been tied or trailing at halftime in each of the last seven games, found itself down by 10, 41-31, with 1:24 left in the first half. However, the Spartans scored the last six points of the half to pull within 41-37 at intermission.
The margin stayed close for the first few minutes of the second half before the Eagles went on an 11-4 run to open the lead back up to 10, 60-50. A pair of buckets by Gennie and a three-pointer by Terry Williams keyed the run. Williams finished the night with nine points and nine assists.
The Spartans rallied, using an 11-4 run of their own to get back to within three, 64-61, with 9:24 to play. Bristow started the run with a three-pointer and later capped it off with a lay-up on a fast break.
Nearly five minutes later, UNCG (13-9, 6-5 SoCon) took its first lead since early in the first half. Burrell hit a jumper in the lane with 4:58 to play to give the Spartans a 71-70 advantage. But the lead would be short-lived as Georgia Southern went on a 9-2 run to take a 79-73 lead with 1:36 to play. From there, the Eagles knocked down all eight free throw attempts to put the game away. For the night, Georgia Southern was 19-of-20 from the free throw line.
UNC Greensboro also broke a team record on Tuesday night. With 12 blocked shots in the game, UNCG now has 138 blocks as a team this season, eclipsing the old record of 137 set in 1993-94. It was also the fourth time this year that the Spartans have blocked 10 or more shots in a game.
UNC Greensboro, which has now lost back-to-back home games after having won a school-record 11 straight at home, hits the road to the state of Tennessee for a pair of games beginning Saturday. The Spartans travel to East Tennessee State for a 4 pm contest on Saturday.
AGATE
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (15-8, 8-3 SoCon)
Gennie, 10-21 0-0 20; Francois, 8-19 3-3 19; Nesbitt, 4-10 8-9 17; Dunn, 3-6 4-4 10; Williams, 2-11 4-4 9; Graham, 4-11 0-0 8; Foreman, 1-1 0-0 2; Joseph, 0-1 0-0 0; Wain, 0-0 0-0 0; Marshall, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-81 19-20 85.
UNC GREENSBORO (13-9, 6-5 SoCon)
Hickman, 6-10 6-11 19; Hines, 7-12 2-3 16; Burrell, 5-7 4-4 14; Bristow, 6-20 0-0 14; Gross, 3-8 0-0 7; Oleksiak, 3-7 0-0 6; Beckford, 1-2 0-0 2; Everette, 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 31-68 13-20 79.
Halftime: Georgia Southern, 41-37. 3-point goals-GSU 2-13 (Nesbitt, 1-3; Williams, 1-6; Gennie, 0-4), UNC Greensboro 4-11 (Bristow, 2-5; Gross, 1-3; Hickman, 1-1; Oleksiak, 0-2). Fouled out--GSU-None, UNC Greensboro-None. Rebounds-GSU 43 (Graham, 14), UNC Greensboro 48 (Hines, 18). Assists-GSU 16 (Williams, 9), UNC Greensboro 11 (Hickman, 5). Total fouls-GSU 18, UNC Greensboro 16. A-944.
