SPARTANBURG, S.C. – With one second left to go in the game Kaden Archie drove down the lane and converted on a last second layup attempt, Archie's "and-one" free throw gave Georgia Southern a 72-69 victory over USC Upstate on Saturday night inside the G.B. Hodge Center.
 
The two teams were evenly matched at the beginning of the contest. However, the Eagles managed to take and keep their small lead in the first half by capitalizing off second chance points and securing offensive rebounds. Georgia Southern ended with 13 second chance points to the Spartans' five second chance points all because the Eagles had nine offensive rebounds. The first half ended with the Eagles up 30-27.
 
At the start of the second half, Dalvin White (Norcross, Ga.) sunk a triple to tie the game. Soon after, the Eagles again secured their small lead. Khydarius Smith's (Fort Mill, S.C.) layup at 14:27 helped the Spartans take their first lead of the game and gave the momentum to Upstate. Back-to-back three pointers from White and Mysta Goodloe (Winston-Salem, N.C.) had the Spartans' bench on their feet as they increased their biggest lead of the game to 48-39. With 8:39 left in the second half, the score between the Spartans and Eagles went back and forth with the score often tied.
 
At 6:45 in the second half, the Spartans took the lead until there were 11 seconds on the clock and the Eagles took a one point lead. Tommy Bruner (Columbia, S.C.) hit one of his two free throws to tie the game with 6 seconds left on the clock. However, Kaden Archie from the Eagles scored a layup. Archie was fouled and hit his free throw putting the Eagles up by three to win the game.
 
"We had some untimely breakdowns in the second half. We didn't make some plays when we needed to make. We normally make our free throws and that hurt us." USC Upstate coach Stacey Palmore said, "However, we had some positive out there tonight."
 
Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, MD) lead the Spartans with 14 points. Bryson Mozone (North Augusta, GA) contributed 13 points to the contest. White had 11 points and Smith finished close behind him with a career high 10 points. Nevin Zink (Newton, Conn) was the leading rebounder with seven.
 
The leading scorer for the Eagles Kaden Archie finished with 23 points. Erin Boone had 13 points and Elijah McCadden had 12. Andrei Savrasov and Eric Boone each had 8 rebounds.
 
The USC Upstate men's basketball team begins Big South conference play hosting Winthrop University next Saturday and Sunday.
 
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