By CHRIS WHITAKER
Americus Times-Recorder
AMERICUS — Phillip Brown scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Matt Shaw scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half as Georgia Southwestern cruised to a 96-61 win against Trinity Baptist on Saturday.
The Hurricanes lit up the nets, shooting better than 53 percent to remain unbeaten at home.
"I thought we didn't play very well defensively," said coach Mike Leeder. "We had a letdown a little bit after playing Auburn. We gave up 32 to Auburn (in the first half) and 36 against Trinity Baptist. We played OK to start the second half.
"We did what had to do to get a win, and it's the first time we're over .500 in three years at Christmas."
Shaw has had trouble staying in the game because of foul trouble, but Leeder said he has to find a way to stay on the court as he did Saturday.
"It's important that he stays on the floor," he said. "He's our best team defender, our best communicator, and he has a really nice feel for how to play. Things flow better when he's in the game."
GSW (4-2) led for all but 30 seconds, pulling away around the midway point of the first half for a 50-36 lead at intermission. The Hurricanes started the second half with an 8-0 run, and the rout was on.
They added a 22-4 run later in the half.
Talmadge Bell added 16 points, and Trayce Macon chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Hurricanes also owned the boards (37-21), points off turnovers (22-4), points in the paint (38-18) and second-chance points (18-5).
"We shared the ball well again, and we rebounded the ball like we've been rebounding it," said Leeder. "We've got to do a better job of taking care of the ball, and playing a little bitter with purpose offensively. We don't get the ball inside or look inside enough. We also have to do a better job with effort defensively."
Tyler McNulty led Trinity with 18 points and nine rebounds, and T.J. Moreland and Zack Potter scored 15 and 14, respectively.
GSW is off until Dec. 29-30 when it travels to play Hiwassee and Lenoir-Rhyne at the Lander New Year's Classic.
By then, the Hurricanes hope to have the injured Bobby Glover (wrist), and Leeder said transfer Colin Slotter will make his debut at the Classic.
