After a thrilling overtime victory over Georgia State, Arkansas State looked to pick up their second in a row against a struggling Georgia Southern team. The Eagles came into Saturday nights contest with a 3-6 league record, but outmatched Arkansas State, winning the contest 71-66.

A-State was led in scoring by Sean Gardner, who finished the contest with 20 points on 7-14 shooting. Gardner has now scored in double figures in eleven games this season.

Anthony Livingston, who has now scored in double figures in six straight games, and Devin Carter, who has scored in double figures in all but four games this season, rounded out the double digit scoring totals with 16 points and 12 points respectfully.

A-State shot the ball extremely well to start out the game. The Red Wolves went into the intermission leading 37-35 after shooting 50 percent (12-24) from the field and 50 percent (7-14) from beyond the arc.

The Red Wolves and Eagles traded blows come out of the halftime break. Georgia Southern was able to jump out to a seven point lead with 11:27 left to go, but A-State was able to battle back, despite not being able to find their shot in the second half.The Red Wolves shot 29.2 percent from the floor in the second half.

With 1:09 left in the game, A-State and Georgia Southern were knotted at 66-66. Georgia Southern’s Tookie Brown, however, was able to bury an improbable fade away three ball as the shot clock expired, that put the Eagles on top for good. A-State had a chance to tie the game with a really good look on a triple with 16 seconds to go, but missed out, and lost by five.

“Sometimes you’re fortunate to win, and sometime you’re unfortunate to lose and this is one of those cases,” A-State head coach John Brady said. “We made no mistakes defensively, but they made two incredible shots that I would want them to shoot. I can’t explain how it happened. It’s almost like it’s meant to be. Good for them, not good for us. I thought our team played hard. We’re a hurt team and not at full strength, but we’re battling as best we can. I don’t fault our effort or what we tried to do.”

The Red Wolves are now tied for third place in the conference with ULM. A-State will return home on Thursday night at 7:30 pm to take on South Alabama.

“Donte Thomas will be ready to go next Thursday,” Brady said. “If we could get three out of four at home that would put us in the top three with eight games to go, and that’s where we need to be. Hopefully we’ll be ready and healthy and have two good games at home next week.”