Davidson (22-6) At Georgia Southern (20-10)
GAME NOTES: The regular season comes to a close tonight in Statesboro, as the Georgia Southern Eagles welcome the Davidson Wildcats to Hanner Fieldhouse for a Southern Conference tussle. Davidson enters tonight's finale riding the longest active win streak in the nation at 18 games, and owns a 22-6 overall ledger. The Wildcats' most recent success, a 68-55 decision over Appalachian State on Wednesday night, preserved a perfect 19-0 SoCon mark. As for Georgia Southern, it has dropped two straight to fall to 20-10 on the season, and owns a 13-6 mark in league play. Davidson leads the all-time series between the two foes by a 19-6 margin, which includes a 92-67 rout of the Eagles earlier this season.
Jason Richards scored the 1,000th point of his career, pouring in a game-high 24 points while dishing out six assists to lead Davidson in Wednesday's 13- point victory over Appalachian State, a contest in which the Wildcats shot just 39.7 percent from the floor. Davidson made up for the cold-shooting effort by forcing 19 turnovers which translated into 21 Wildcat points. Stephen Curry added 17 points to go with six rebounds in the win. Davidson is shooting a solid 46.8 percent from the field as a team this season, and the Wildcats log 78.5 ppg as a result. Curry averages a whopping 25.0 ppg to pace the Davidson offense, and he is joined in double figures by Richards with his 13.0 ppg.
Georgia Southern averages 75.3 ppg this season, and is knocking down 45.1 percent of its field goal attempts. Louis Graham leads the club in scoring with 17.4 ppg, in addition to being responsible for 6.7 rpg. Willie Powers also owns a double-digit scoring average, tallying 11.5 ppg. GSU shot 53.1 percent from the floor during Thursday's five-point loss at the College of Charleston, but the Eagles converted just 3-of-10 from long range and committed 17 turnovers. Anthony Marshall and Powers scored 18 points apiece to lead GSU, while Graham added 14 points in the win. Matthew Fields contributed 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Eagles.
Davidson has been a force for a vast majority of the season, and it's hard to pick against the Wildcats, even on the road, until they lose some steam. Georgia Southern is no pushover, but give the advantage to Davidson.
Predicted OutcomeDavidson 79, Georgia Southern 75Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.







