Wednesday night in Pensacola didn’t go the way Old Dominion had hoped, but the Monarchs made Georgia Southern earn every bit of their 88\u201384 Sun Belt Tournament victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jordan Battle was absolutely sensational \u2014 45 points, a Sun Belt Tournament record, and enough to nearly pull off one of the more stunning comebacks you’ll see in conference play. In the end, his potential game-tying three-pointer rimmed out with four seconds left, and just like that, the Monarchs’ season was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first half was tight throughout. Georgia Southern jumped out early, with Alden Applewhite scoring the Eagles’ first nine points of the game to take a 9\u20135 lead. Georgia Southern University<\/a> ODU didn’t flinch \u2014 they rattled off six straight to pull even at 19 and traded blows with the Eagles the rest of the half. Georgia Southern led by three at the final media timeout of the first half after Applewhite knocked down his fifth three-pointer, and then Spudd Webb capped the half with a driving dunk to push the lead to 39\u201337 at the break. Georgia Southern University<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n That two-point deficit felt manageable. It wasn’t. ODU failed to score a field goal over a six-minute stretch early in the second half, and Georgia Southern went on a 13\u20131 run capped by a Shainen Carter fast-break layup that pushed the lead to 69\u201355 with just over eight minutes to play. Old Dominion Athletics<\/a> It looked like the game was slipping away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Battle took over. He scored 17 points in the game’s final six minutes, including a pair of three-pointers in the last 1:11 that trimmed a seven-point Georgia Southern lead down to three with 33 seconds left. Old Dominion Athletics<\/a> The comeback was real, the crowd felt it, and ODU was one stop away from forcing overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trailing by three with four seconds remaining, Battle had a chance to tie it, but he was closely defended by Georgia Southern’s Jefferson Koulibaly, and while there was contact on the play, no foul was called \u2014 and the shot didn’t fall. Old Dominion Athletics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia Southern, for their part, deserved credit too. Battle finished 11-of-18 from the field, 8-of-10 from three, and 15-of-16 from the free-throw line Georgia Southern University<\/a> \u2014 and the Eagles still held on. The win sends Georgia Southern (17\u201315) to a third-round matchup against seventh-seeded Arkansas State. Old Dominion Athletics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As for ODU, the Monarchs were also without 7-foot center Caelum Swanton-Rodger, who twisted an ankle in Tuesday’s win over ULM and couldn’t suit up despite receiving treatment throughout the day. Old Dominion Athletics<\/a> It was one more thing working against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Battle, a Norfolk native playing in his final game in an ODU uniform, said he was proud of how the team fought. “I felt like in the locker room that we believed we would somehow get it done,” he said. “We never gave up.” Old Dominion Athletics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coach Mike Jones echoed that. “I’m very proud of my team but am very disappointed in the result,” Jones said. “I will acknowledge the fight we showed all the way to the end. I’m not disappointed in the effort, but am disappointed that we won’t play again.” Old Dominion Athletics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a gut-punch ending to a tough season \u2014 but Battle’s performance gave ODU fans something real to remember.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wednesday night in Pensacola didn’t go the way Old Dominion had hoped, but the Monarchs made Georgia Southern earn every bit of their 88\u201384 Sun Belt Tournament victory. Jordan Battle was absolutely sensational \u2014 45 points, a Sun Belt Tournament… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32095,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32095"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/opalsimmonssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}