AMERICUS - The Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team couldn't hold on to an 11-point lead in the second half Wednesday as Young Harris spoiled the Hurricanes' Senior Night, 71-65, in the Storm Dome.

GSW led by 11 points with 12:44 to play but seven turnovers and 2 of 11 shooting down the stretch allowed Young Harris to escape with the win.

The Hurricanes saw their three-game winning streak snapped as their record fell to 13-11 overall, 8-9 in Peach Belt Conference play. The loss puts GSW in a three-way tie with Young Harris and Clayton State for the fourth, and final, seed out of the west division for the postseason PBC Tournament with two conference games remaining. Young Harris extended its current winning streak to six games and improved to 11-12 overall and 8-9 in conference play.

YHC grabbed the early lead on Wednesday night and, after an Isaiah Johnson 3-pointer at the 14:41 mark, led 13-8. The Mountain Lions held on to a small lead for over 10 minutes until GSW went on an 8-0 run late in the half capped by a 3-point play from Damien Leonard to pull ahead, 35-32, with 3:22 left before the break. The Hurricanes took a 39-34 lead into the locker room at the half.

YHC opened the second half with seven unanswered points to pull ahead, 41-39, but GSW quickly regained its lead. Deric Rudolph drained a 3-pointer with 15:32 on the clock to put GSW ahead, 44-41. That play was part of a 13-2 run by the Hurricanes which led to their largest lead of the night. Kevin Burnell capped the run when he made the free throw to convert a four-point play and put GSW ahead, 54-43, with 12:44 to go.

Things deteriorated for the Hurricanes down the stretch with turnovers and poor shooting. By the 6:13 mark YHC had cut the deficit to one point, 58-57. Southwestern held off the Mountain Lions for the next five minutes but when C.J. Wilson made a layup with 1:17 remaining, YHC had regained the lead, 63-62, and back-to-back GSW turnovers insured the Mountain Lions would not relinquish it the rest of the way.   

Leonard led GSW with 18 points. Burnell drained 4 of 6 attempts from beyond the arc on the way to his 15-point evening. Rudolph added 12 points. Josh Birchfield grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds despite landing in foul trouble early in the game.

Wilson paced YHC with 24 points while connecting on all eight of his free throw attempts. Johnson added 20 points. Both players accounted for five steals apiece. Kevin Altidor pulled down a team-best nine rebounds.

The Hurricanes recognized their four seniors (Rudolph, Burnell, Birchfield and Darius Redding) during a pregame ceremony.

Southwestern travels to Georgia College on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. game.