STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Mike Hughes scored 18 points, a career high for the freshman, Jelanie Hewitt added 17 and Georgia Southern knocked off the last unbeaten Sun Belt Conference team, Louisiana-Lafayette, 78-70 on Thursday night.
Curtis Diamond added 12 points and Angel Matias 10 for the Eagles (11-3, 4-1), who won their fourth straight game.
Shawn Long scored 18 points, Hayward Register 12 and Brian Williams 10 for the Ragin' Cajuns (10-6, 4-1), who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Georgia Southern led 35-27 at halftime and was ahead by 11, 67-56, with 3:17 left. The Ragin' Cajuns were down just three points with 31 seconds left but the Eagles made 5 of 7 free throws from there while Louisiana-Lafayette went scoreless.
The game was played before a sellout crowd of 4,325 inside Hanner Fieldhouse, the largest since the Eagles drew 4,360 against Steph Curry and Davidson on Jan. 17, 2009.
