Post Game Press Conference

Asheville, N.C. – No. 7 seed Georgia Southern led wire-to-wire en route to a 65-50 victory over No. 10 seed Furman in the opening round of the 2014 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Friday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.

With the win, Georgia Southern improved to 14-18 and advanced to face Chattanooga in quarterfinal round action on Saturday at 6 p.m.  Furman concluded its season at 9-21.

The Eagles scored the game's first eight points and never looked back.  Jelani Hewitt tallied 20 points to lead all scorers adding eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Tre Bussey and Angel Matias also reached double figure with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Senior Charlie Reddick had a strong game for the Paladins with 18 points and seven rebounds in his final contest in the purple and white. He shot five-for-seven from the floor and made all seven free throw attempts. Sophomore Stephen Croone chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Eagles used a 14-2 spurt to start the second half to build a 20-point cushion. Hewitt's dunk at 13:20 put his squad in firm control, 49-29. The lead swelled to as many as 24, 59-35, on Bussey's jumper in the lane with 6:33 to go.

Furman answered with a 9-0 run cutting it to 15, 59-44, on three Reddick free tosses at 4:14. That was as close as it would get as GSU held on for the win.

The Eagles shot 50% from the field and outscored the Paladins 38-16 in the paint.  Furman connected on just 36.4% of its shots and only 4-of-19 three-point attempts.