Second-half run lifts Georgia Southwestern past Albany State

ALBANY — In the first home game of the season at its new West Campus facility Wednesday, the Albany State men’s basketball team fell to Georgia Southwestern 81-72

The Hurricanes got the hot hand in the second half, particularly from behind the 3-point arc and were able to go on an 18-3 run.

GSW started the second half trailing 31-29. After opening with a 9-3 run, the Hurricanes added to that with a three-point play by Hasaan Buggs, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 47-34 game with 15:12 left to play.

GSW shot 58.3 percent from 3-point range in the second half and held a 60-46 lead with 9:17 left in the game.

The Rams found their rhythm from deep late, getting 3-pointers from JaDon Davis, Tylen Walker and Jonathan Henderson. The double-digit margin was whittled down to five thanks to a Tylen Walker basket with less than two minutes to play, but Albany State couldn’t get the stops needed to erase the deficit completely.

Jared Harrington was the leading scorer for the Rams, finishing with 18 points, followed by Jonathon Henderson and Rahdin Hughes with 10 points each.

The Rams got off to a slow start in the first half, with the Hurricanes jumping out to an 8-2 lead. ASU underwent a scoring drought until Harrington split a pair of free throws with 14:13 to go in the half, but by then the Rams were behind 10-3.

ASU was finally able to start penetrating GSW’s defense late in the first half and took its first lead of the game after Henderson sank a 3-pointer to make it a 26-24 with 3:19 left.

The Rams shot 36.7 percent from the field in the first and 21.4 from behind the 3-point arc and, thanks to that run late in the first half capped off by a Napoleon Harris putback, the Rams led 31-29 at the half.

ASU allowed the Hurricanes to shot 40 percent from the field in the first half and score 14 points in the paint in the first half.

The Rams are now 0-3 on the season and will try to bounce back this weekend during their Rams Rising Tournament. They will face Catawba College at 7 p.m. on Friday and Columbus State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.