AMERICUS, S.C. -- The Georgia Southwestern State University men's basketball team suffered its first lost of the season when leading at halftime (8-1) after fading in the second half of a 64-53 loss Wednesday evening against Flagler College in the Storm Dome. The 53 points is Georgia Southwestern's lowest total in a game this year.

The Hurricanes suffered their third consecutive defeat and fall to 12-11 overall and 8-11 in the Peach Belt Conference while Flagler has won two in a row to improve to 9-14, 6-13 in the PBC. Despite the loss, GSW remains tied for sixth in the PBC standings, a win ahead of two teams tied for the eighth (and final) spot in PBC Tournament with three games remaining. 

How It Happened: GSW pounced on Flagler early, outscoring the Saints, 11-4, in the opening five minutes of the game. The Hurricanes stretched the lead to 12 points, their largest of the evening, after a John Mason layup with 10:48 left in the first half made the score 18-6. Flagler slowly chipped away at the deficit and Vaughn McCall drained a 3-pointer as time expired to pull the Saints within a point at the break, 32-31.

Flagler scored six unanswered points to open the second half and GSW never led again. The Saints led by 10 points with 10 minutes to go and took their largest lead, 55-40, with 6:04 left on the clock.  

GSW shooters went ice cold in the second half as they were limited to 1 of 10 from long range and 8 of 32 shots overall (25 percent) in the period. Flagler finished the game with 12 more rebounds (45-37) and 10 more bench points (12-2).    

Who Stood Out: Andre Statam led all scorers with 20 points. Statam, along with teammates Mason and Devin Watson, pulled down eight rebounds apiece. Dajion Macklien added 11 points. The Hurricanes were without starters Quenten Taylor and Hasaan Buggs due to injuries. Buggs has nine double-doubles this season.  

McCall led Flagler with 17 points. Chris Williams posted a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.  

Up Next: The Hurricanes wrap up the home portion of their 2017-18 schedule on Saturday with a GSW Homecoming game against Augusta University (13-12, 10-9 PBC) at 4:30 p.m.