Box Score LITTLE ROCK – UALR (10-15, 5-10 SBC) led by nine points with less than five minutes to play in regulation, but Georgia Southern (18-5, 11-3 SBC) fought back to force overtime, where it eventually prevailed by a 72-70 final score at the Jack Stephens Center. Junior James Reid scored a career-high 23 points while knocking down 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range in a losing effort.
UALR's lead swelled to 55-46 after a jumper by Maurius Hill with 4:52 left to play in regulation. Georgia Southern answered by scoring four unanswered points to trim its deficit to five at the 3:16 mark. After another basket by Hill that made it 61-54, GS scored the next five points to pull within two with 1:32 left to play.
Josh Hagins put UALR back up four on a step-back jumper on the Trojans' next possession. After Georgia Southern and UALR traded turnovers, the Eagles' Trent Wiedeman scored inside with 21 second left to play to make it a two-point game, 63-61. Reid was fouled with 18 seconds left to play, and the junior went 1 of 2 at the charity stripe, putting UALR up three with 18 seconds left.
On the ensuing play, Georgia Southern's Jelani Hewitt pump-faked on his 3-point attempt, drawing contact from Hagins and earning three free throw attempts. Hewitt knocked down all three foul shots with 1.7 seconds remaining, and Hill's heave off the inbound was well short.
Ben Dillard's free throw quickly put UALR back on top in overtime. But Hewitt connected on a triple on the Eagles' next possession and the Eagles would not trail again. A layup by Hagins at the 1:42 mark pulled UALR within two.
Still down two with 21 seconds to play, UALR forced Hewitt into a turnover. However, Hagins was stripped trying to push the ball up the floor in the closing seconds. The Bossier City, La., native immediately fouled Curtis Diamond, who missed both free throws. Reid got a contested look from the wing as time expired, but his shot was off the mark.
In addition to Reid's 23, Hagins (11) and Dillard (10) finished the night in double figures. Hill added nine points and eight rebounds, while J.T. Thomas finished with eight points and four assists.
UALR found itself in a nine-point halftime hole after it shot just 36.0 percent in the first half while Georgia Southern made 60.9 percent of its tries over the first 20 minutes. The roles were flipped in the second half, as UALR shot 48.0 percent from the field while GS shot just 36.8 percent.
The Eagles led by as many as 15 with 4:37 to go in the opening half, and pushed its lead back to 11 early in the second half. UALR went on a 7-0 run to cut the margin to four, before an 8-0 spurt later in the half gave it its first lead since the opening minutes.
Hewitt led four GS players in double figures with 21 points and five assists in 39 minutes.
UALR returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 19 against Arkansas State at the Jack Stephens Center. Tip-off for the men's game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
