Dakota Leffew scored a game-high 23 points off the bench, helping lead the Georgia Bulldogs to a 92-64 win over the visiting Texas Southern Tigers on Sunday in Athens, Ga.
Silas Demary Jr. added 17 points for the Bulldogs (2-0), while Asa Newell chipped in 14. Tyrin Lawrence scored 13 points while Blue Cain recorded 12 points and 11 rebounds for Georgia, which had a double-digit lead from the 8:11 mark of the first half through the remainder of the game.
For Texas Southern (1-2), Kenny Hunter led the Tigers with 16 points, followed by Kavion McClain’s 13. Grayson Carter had nine for the Tigers, who were just 1-for-19 (5.3 percent) on 3-pointers and were outrebounded 53-23.
Texas Southern took an early lead on Alex Anderson’s turnaround mid-range jumper with 15:43 left in the first half, putting the Tigers up 8-6. Demary answered the bucket with a traditional three-point play that put the Bulldogs ahead for good.
Leading 25-20, Georgia built its first double-digit lead as Leffew drained back-to-back triples to give the Bulldogs an 11-point advantage, 31-20, at the 8:45 mark of the opening half.
Duane Posey’s layup then cut the Tigers’ deficit to nine, before Newell’s three-point play capped an 8-2 Georgia run, extending the Bulldogs’ lead to 39-24 with 5:46 left.
Georgia held a 47-29 halftime advantage, led by Leffew’s 16 points. Hunter paced the Tigers with eight first-half points.
From there, Texas Southern cut its deficit to 61-47 on Hunter’s mid-range jumper with 13:34 left. After Carter’s free throws trimmed Georgia’s lead to 68-51, the Bulldogs scored six straight points to pull away with 9:03 remaining.
At the 7:35 mark, Newell was the recipient of Demary’s assist on an alley-oop dunk, before Lawrence knocked down a triple to extend Georgia’s lead to 79-55.
–Field Level Media
