Smith scores 25, Georgia Southern beats Texas State 81-77

Feb 25, 2018, 12:51 am

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Ike Smith scored 25 points with five 3-pointers, Tookie Brown scored all of his 16 points in the second half, and third-place Georgia Southern beat Texas State 81-77 on Saturday to split the season series.

Mike Hughes scored 19 points for the Eagles (18-11, 9-7 Sun Belt Conference), who hit 10 3s and shot 54.9 percent from the field.

Georgia Southern led 67-60 with 3:42 left after Smith and Brown hit 3s while the Bobcats were scoreless for more than three minutes. Brown's back-to-back jumpers put the Eagles up by seven, but Immanuel King's layup cut it to 75-70 with 25 seconds left before Hughes' two free throws iced it.

Tre'Larenz Nottingham scored a career-high 27 points with seven 3s, Nijal Pearson added 15 points and King had 10 for the Bobcats (14-16, 7-10), who have lost eight straight.

Pearson's 3 capped a 10-2 run for a seven-point lead, but the Eagles scored six straight and trailed 36-34 at halftime.