No. 12 Men's Basketball Upset at Life

MARIETTA, Ga. - On Saturday afternoon, the Georgetown College men's basketball team headed south to take on the Life University Runnin' Eagles, and they were in search of a win that could help them stay on the inside track to the second seed in the upcoming Mid-South Conference championship. At halftime, they appeared in position to get that victory, but the Tigers went cold in the second half. 

Georgetown (22-5, 15-5 MSC) made only 11 baskets in the second half, while Life (7-18, 4-16 MSC) paraded to the foul line and rallied to take the win, 81-77.

Georgetown's Drew Lamont opened the scoring on the game's first possession, but Life led for much of the first five minutes of the game. Jayrese Williams buried a 3-pointer to give Georgetown the lead back at 13-11, and in the middle stages of the opening half, the game took on a back-and-forth tone until an 11-0 run from Georgetown gave the Tigers a 38-30 lead. The Tigers continued to keep the game in their favor in the final moments of the opening stanza, and at the break, Georgetown led 46-36.

In the second half, though, Georgetown was not able to stretch that lead, and it proved costly. Within the first five minutes, Life closed the gap to five points, and with 11:19 to play, Life knotted things up at 60. Georgetown briefly reclaimed the lead, but Life again tied the score at 66, and a minute later, the Runnin' Eagles surged in front 68-66. With 6:54 to play, Lamont got the Tigers even at 70, and on the next possession, Lamont buried a 3-pointer to give Georgetown the lead back at 73-70. That proved to be the last made field goal for Georgetown, though, and down the stretch, Life surged in front and sealed the game at the foul line for the 81-77 win.

Lamont led all Georgetown players with 26 points in the game, and Cam Brooks-Harris (16) and Williams (12) were also in double-figures. Seth Johnson and Derrin Boyd each grabbed a team best seven rebounds, and Boyd dished up six assists.

As a team, Georgetown was 29-for-61 (47.5%) from the floor in the game, including 13-for-35 (37.1%) from long distance. At the foul line, the Tigers were 6-for-10 (60%) in the game. The biggest difference in the game was at the foul line, where Life was 21-for-23 (91.3%) in the game, including 17-for-18 (94.4%) in the second half.

Georgetown will now face the difficult task of heading to Crestview Hills, Kentucky on Thursday night to battle the conference-leading Saints of Thomas More (23-3, 17-2 MSC). The game is slated to tip-off at 8 p.m. Eastern.