PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Old Dominion’s men’s basketball team showed a ton of heart and determination Wednesday night in the Sun Belt Conference Championship second round, rallying in the final minutes to trim what had been a 14-point Georgia Southern lead to two in the final minute.
But a potential game-tying three-point shot from Jordan Battle rimmed out with four seconds left, and Georgia Southern held on to eke out an 88-84 victory in the Pensacola Bay Center.
Battle, the ODU senior from Norfolk, ended his Monarch career with a new best of 45 points, which also set a Sun Belt Conference Tournament single-game scoring record.
He tied the ODU Division I scoring record set by Alex Loughton in 2003 in a game against Charlotte.
And Battle was at his best down the stretch, as the Monarchs rallied.
He scored 17 points in the game’s final six minutes, including a pair of three-point shots in the final 1:11 that trimmed what had been a seven-point Georgia Southern lead to three, 84-81, with 33 seconds left.
The Monarchs still trailed by three, 87-84, when Battle had a chance to send the game into overtime. He was closely defended by Georgia Southern’s Jefferson Koulibaly and while there was contact on the play, there was no foul call.
Battle made 11-of-18 field goals, was 8-for-10 from beyond the three-point arc, and made 15-of-16 free throws.
Georgia Southern (17-15) advances to meet No. 7 seed Arkansas State in Thursday’s third round. The season ends for ODU (12-21), which had hoped to equal last year’s run, when the Monarchs won three tournament games in a row before losing to eventual champion Troy.
“I’m very proud of my team but am very disappointed in the result,” Head Coach Mike Jones said. “I will acknowledge the fight we showed all the way to the end. I’m not disappointed in the effort, but am disappointed that we won’t play again.”
“I felt like in the locker room that we believed that we would somehow get it done. And we showed that we believed. We never gave up.”
The Monarchs were without 7-foot center Caelum Swanton-Rodger, who emerged the second half of the season as a key player for the Monarchs. He twisted an ankle in Tuesday’s 87-80 victory over ULM and in spite of receiving treatments all day Wednesday, he simply couldn’t play.
The Monarchs trailed by two nine minutes into the second half before hitting a dry spell that allowed the Eagles take a double-digit lead.
They failed to score a field goal over the next six minutes and Georgia Southern went on a 13-1 run, capped on a fast-break layup by Shainen Carter with 8:04 left that gave the Eagles a 69-55 lead.
ODU trailed, 71-59, with 7:43 left when they methodically fought their way back into the game.
Battle made two free throws, and then after an untimely technical foul by the Eagles, he made two more, and then two more with 5:51 left to trim the lead to six points, 71-65.
Battle then made a three-pointer with 4:05 left to cut the lead to five. Zacch Wiggins cut the Eagle lead to four with a foul shot with 3:35 remainig and then, with 14 seconds left, Wiggins made one of two free throws to narrow the margin to two, 86-84.
Georgia Southern’s Tavarus Webb then made one of two free throws to build the lead to three, and the Eagles held on as Battle’s shot rimmed out.
Three ODU players are seniors and thus played their final time in an ODU uniform – KC Shaw, Battle and LJ Thomas. Swanton-Rodger is also a senior as is Cooper Jones, who did not play.
Shaw, a transfer from Maryland-Eastern Shore, Battle, a Norfolk Collegiate graduate who transferred from Coastal Carolina, and Thomas, a transfer from Austin Peay, were ODU’s top three scorers this season. Swanton-Rodger led the team in rebounding and was the fifth-best scorer.
Battle said he didn’t enter the game intending to break any scoring records.
“It wasn’t about the points,” he said. “I was just determined to lead and help us do whatever it took to win.”
“I just wanted to leave everything on the court. I just wanted to win.”
Jones paid homage to ODU’s fans, who, as they have ever since the University joined the Sun Belt four years ago, led the league in attendance.
“Thank you to all of you for supporting us, even though at times we didn’t really deserve it,” he said. “We had many ups and downs this year. This was not the season any of us expected. But we never gave up. We never quit.”
“To fall short of what we hoped to do this season is disappointing. But we will choose to celebrate the fight we showed this season.”
“This season wasn’t good enough. We have to be better when it comes to wins and losses and it’s time for us to begin that process.”
Battle said in spite of ODU’s record that he’s glad he played for his hometown school as a senior.
“I love the ODU community,” Battle said. “The ODU fan base was just great. The fans were so supportive.”
“I just want to say to the fans, I appreciate everything you did for us.”