STATESBORO, GA (WTKR)- Old Dominion seems to have worked out the problem of starting games slowly. Now it appears the Monarchs just have to work on finishing.
ODU jumped out to an 11-point first half lead Thursday, but saw it slip away and fell to Georgia Southern in an 87-84 nail-biter.
Mike Jones and company went into the locker room with a 48-39 lead at the break, but a 12-2 run to open the second half pushed the Eagles in front, 51-50, with 17:33 remaining in the game. The two squads would go back and forth for most of the frame.
Alden Applewhite connected on a three-pointer that gave Georgia Southern the 80-74 advantage with 3:32 left in the contest, but the Monarchs stormed back. Robert Davis Jr. drained a triple of his own and was fouled to trim the ODU deficit to three and Jordan Battle followed that up with a three-pointer of his own to knot the score up at 80 apiece. After two Eagle free throws pushed the home team back in front, Drew McKenna's put-back tied it back up and LJ Thomas's lay-up gave Old Dominion an 84-82 lead with 28 seconds remaining.
But Georgia Southern had a little bit left in the tank. Jefferson Koulibaly connected on a triple with 17 seconds left and Davis's final attempt at the other end was off the mark.
Old Dominion falls to 5-14, 2-5 in Sun Belt play.
Davis led the Monarchs with 20 points, while Thomas added 17 points and five assists. KC Shaw chipped in 14 points with Battle rounding out the ODU scorers in double figures with 12 points.
The silver and blue have now dropped six of their last seven contests and are 1-11 on the road this season.
Old Dominion will be back in action Saturday at App State. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
