STATESBORO, Ga. – A Drew McKenna putback and an LJ Thomas layup gave Old Dominion men’s basketball an 84-82 lead with 28 seconds left, but Georgia Southern closed out the game with a 5-0 run as the Monarchs fell 87-84 on Thursday night at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center.
GS’s Jefferson Koulibaly scored an open three with 17 seconds left to put the Eagles (13-6, 5-1 Sun Belt) back in front, 85-84. Robert Davis Jr. had a look at a three ball with four seconds remaining, but ODU was forced to foul and send the home team to the line. Tyren Moore made both of his free throws, leaving ODU with just 0.9 seconds and needing a three to tie. McKenna heaved a long inbounds pass in the hopes the Monarchs could get off a shot, but it was intercepted by the Eagles as time expired.
Asked about the final shot by Davis Jr., ODU head coach Mike Jones said, “With the way the game was going, we wanted penetration. We had a timeout, but [Georgia Southern] wasn’t organized defensively, so let’s see what we can get.”
Davis Jr. led the Monarchs (5-14, 2-5) with 20 points, making 6-of-12 shots from distance for a new season high in three-pointers. Thomas was next with 17 points, five assists, and two steals. KC Shaw ended up with 14 points, four assists, and one steal, and Jordan Battle also reached double figures with 12 points.
ODU shot 47.7% (31-for-65) from the field and 66.7% (10-for-15) at the free-throw line. The Monarchs also made a season high 12 threes on 28 attempts for a 42.9% clip from the perimeter. They held the lead for nearly 23 minutes (22:44) and were up by as many as 11 points. The game featured seven ties and 10 lead changes.
Down 5-2 early, the Monarchs took over the lead with a 10-0 run that was started by a Shaw layup. Davis Jr. and Battle followed with back-to-back threes before Caelum Swanton-Rodger went 2-for-2 at the line for a 12-5 lead at the 16:09 mark. GS pulled to within 14-12 as Nakavieon White made both of his shots at the line and Khayri Dunn hit a deep ball, but Jared Turner, Thomas, Zacch Wiggins, and Davis Jr. poured in four more triples for a 26-16 advantage with 11:10 to play in the opening stanza.
The Eagles got some momentum back with a 10-2 push to cut the Monarch lead to 38-36 with 2:42 left in the half. Battle responded with a layup in the paint, and Thomas found a wide-open Turner for a three ball from the left wing for some cushion at 43-36. After Spudd Webb went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe and Alden Applewhite converted a jumper, Thomas hit a tough shot and Davis Jr. closed out the half with a buzzer-beater three-pointer right in front of the Georgia Southern bench. That gave Old Dominion a 48-39 lead as the teams went into the locker rooms.
Georgia Southern put together a 10-2 start to the second half, forcing an Old Dominion timeout with 18:08 on the clock as the hosts retook control, 51-50 for their first lead since the 18:33 mark in the first. The game remained a close affair Webb and Dunn combined to make four free throws and White added a layup for a 61-58 GS lead with 12:27 to go.
The Monarchs hung around though, with a Shaw dunk and a 1-for-2 effort at the line by Swanton-Rodger cutting the deficit to 67-66. The Eagles pulled away 80-74 on a three by Applewhite, but ODU responded with a pair of triples from Davis Jr. and Battle for another tie at 80-80 with 2:24 remaining.
On what he told his team after the game, Jones said, “It’s not a broken record, but we’ve got to keep fighting. You can say we got close to playing a full 40 minutes, but until we do that, anything is possible. We've got to keep coaching and fighting and digging our heels in.”
Up Next
Old Dominion rounds out its four-game road swing in Boone, North Carolina this Saturday when the Monarchs square off against App State at 1 p.m.