AMERICUS —
Alan Arnett scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half to lead the Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team to a 59-50 come-from-behind victory over Albany State on Saturday evening in the Storm Dome.
The Hurricanes improve to 2-1 while Albany State opens its season at 0-1.
ASU used a 12-2 run, capped by Jacolby Neloms' 3-point basket with 2:51 remaining in the first half, to open its largest lead of the game at 22-10.
GSW answered with eight unanswered points to close out the first half and went into the locker room trailing 22-18 at the break.
The Hurricanes regained the lead - for the first time since the opening minute - when Arnett drilled a jumper with 12:24 left to make the score 32-31. ASU would not go away quietly as Southwestern had to break four ties down the stretch.
Arnett scored nine of GSW's final 16 points covering a seven-minute span. Perhaps the most important basket coming with 2:05 to play when Arnett sank a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Hurricanes a 55-49 lead and a little breathing room.
After going to the line for 58 times over their first two games, the Hurricanes added 33 free throw attempts on Saturday, connecting on 22, including their final four in the closing seconds.
GSW struggled offensively in the first half and shot 31.6 percent from the floor while being held to 18 points. Things changed over the final 20 minutes as GSW connected on 11 of 16 from the floor (68.8 percent) to finish at 48.6 percent for the game.
The Golden Rams were close behind shooting 42 percent overall. However, the aforementioned 3-pointer from Neloms proved to be the Golden Rams last connection from behind the arc as ASU missed their final seven attempts and finished the game 1 of 14 from long range.
ASU held a slight advantage in rebounds, 30-28, and points in the paint, 32-26.
GSW capitalized on 21 Golden Ram turnovers and held a comfortable points off turnovers advantage of 27-13.
Matt Shaw joined Arnett in double figures with 12 points for GSW while adding a team-high seven rebounds. Tyler Gunnett came off of the bench to dish out four assists, grab a key defensive rebound and pick up a steal late in the game to provide a second-half spark for the resurgent offense.
Albany State's Justin Udi led all scorers with 19 points. Jerome Hamilton pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for the Golden Rams.
The Hurricanes wrap up their five-game home stand next weekend with games at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday against North Alabama and Tusculum College.
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Tyler Gunnett (above) had four assists and two steals in the ‘Canes win over Albany State. Submitted Photo
Strong second half lifts GSW men past Albany State, 59-50
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