The Georgia men’s basketball team narrowly defeated Georgia Southern 73-64 in Stegeman Coliseum Monday night.

Georgia was trailing 32-29 at halftime and regained the lead only once in the second half before losing it for 11 minutes, 24 seconds. It was able to regain the lead with 8:36 remaining. The score was 53-51 when freshman Sahvir Wheeler made two back to back shots to allow the Bulldogs to bypass the Eagles and take a 55-53 lead.

The game was back-and-forth until freshman Anthony Edwards went on an 8-point run and graduate Donnell Gresham Jr. capped the score off with a layup to total a 10-0 run for Georgia. This gave the Bulldogs a 69-60 lead with 1:48 to play.

The game ended with that same 9-point differential. The Bulldogs remain undefeated at home and 8-3 overall.

Edwards led the Bulldogs with 23 points, and fellow first-year Toumani Camara followed behind with 16 points. Camara shot 100% on field goals and set a career high with his eight baskets. Camara’s perfect field goal percentage is the first perfect 8-for-8 shooting the Bulldogs have seen since 2003 when Jonas Hayes did the same against Florida A&M.

Junior Rayshaun Hammonds once again led Georgia in rebounding with 10. Camara followed closely behind, picking up seven rebounds of his own.

Hammonds also had eight points, falling just two short of another double-double for his 2019-20 season. He notched the fifth double-double of his career Friday night against SMU.

“I thought we had a really good couple days of preparation and practice, an excellent walkthrough, and then at the end of the day we just got going,” head coach Tom Crean said. “We were not as good in the first half and had some guys on fumes. We have a responsibility right now to compete at a high level for 40 minutes.”

Georgia will play once more in 2019 on Dec. 30 in Stegeman Coliseum where they will take on Austin Peay.