STATESBORO, Ga. – It was a tale of two halves as the Georgia Southern Eagles erased an 11-point halftime lead to steal a 98-88 victory over the Elon Phoenix in a high-energy Southern Conference men’s basketball game from Hanner Fieldhouse on Thursday night. Led by Antonio Hanson’s career-high 39 points, the Eagles netted 66 second-half points to improve to 9-21, 6-11 on the year. Elon dropped only its second game this season when scoring at least 80 points, falling to 8-21, 5-12 in the league.

Elon’s Devan Carter led five Phoenix players in double figures, tying his season-high with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Adam Constantine recorded his ninth double-double of the year with 16 points and a game-high 12 boards. Josh Bonney contributed 15 points, TJ Douglas added 13 and Chris Long tallied 11.

Hanson drained 9-of-15 three-pointers in his final game at Hanner Fieldhouse. Ben Drayton dumped in 18 points and Willie Powers posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists.

On the strength of a 15-3 first-half run, Elon held a 43-32 advantage after 20 minutes of action. The Phoenix had managed to handle the Georgia Southern press in the first half, but the Eagles turned up the defense after the break. The Eagles cut the lead to one, 45-44, on the strength of a 12-2 run that spanned only two and a half minutes. 

Elon managed to push its lead back to five, 53-48, before a Drayton three and a Rory Spencer dunk tied the game with 14:36 on the clock. After an empty Phoenix possession, Hanson drained a long ball and gave Georgia Southern its first lead, 56-53, since the midway point of the first half. 

The teams traded buckets before Douglas nailed a shot from beyond the arc to put Elon ahead, 60-58, with 12:36 on the clock. Unfortunately, Elon would manage only two baskets in the next four minutes as Georgia Southern went on a 21-4 run that gave the home team an 80-64 lead at 7:17. The Phoenix would get no closer than seven as Georgia Southern sent out six seniors with a victory on senior night.

Elon turned the ball over 20 times in the contest, 13 in the final half. The Phoenix shot the ball well from the field, but once again had challenges at the free throw line. Elon was 19-of-30 (63.3) from the charity stripe. Both the Phoenix and the Eagles connected on an impressive 55 percent of their field goal attempts. The biggest difference on the stat sheet was the numbers from downtown. GSU sank 13-of-25 (52.0) from three-point land compared to a 5-of-14 (35.7) clip by the Phoenix.

Hanson didn’t miss on his first four field goal attempts and scored 11 of the Eagles’ first 15 points as the home team jumped on top 15-9 at 16:23. Georgia Southern would push its lead to as many as 10, 22-12, at the 13:57 mark, before the Elon defense came alive.

Elon forced the Eagles to turn the ball over 11 times in the final 14 minutes of the first half while the offense, sparked by the driving penetration of Carter and Terrance Birdette, connected on better than 50 percent of its field goal attempts.

The Phoenix will play its final home game of the season on Saturday, February 27 when it hosts the Davidson Wildcats at 7 p.m. Elon will honor its four-member senior class prior to the tip.