AMERICUS, GA - Leading by two points at halftime, foul-plagued Francis Marion University allowed Georgia Southwestern State University to shoot 59 percent over the final 20 minutes and the Patriots fell from the ranks of the unbeaten 92-79, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 3) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.

Francis Marion drops to 8-1 overall and 1-1 in the PBC.  FMU continues its three-game conference road trip on Wednesday when the Patriots play at second-ranked USC Aiken at 7:30 p.m.  FMU's next home game will be Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. against local-rival UNC Pembroke.

A travel-weary Patriots squad, which just returned from a 12-day trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Wednesday, committed 31 fouls, had three players foul out, and allowed GSW to shoot 41 free throws (33 makes).

Junior forward Matt French came off the Francis Marion bench to lead the Patriots with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting from both the field and the foul line.  Junior guard Anthony Wallen scored 14 points, followed by senior Sam Smith with 11 and freshman Brynjar Bjornsson with 10.

Chris Rawls and Damayrius Adside led GSW (5-4, 1-1) with 23 and 22 points respectively.  Rawls was 15-of-18 from the free throw line.

Francis Marion raced to an early 17-7 lead, and owned an 11-point advantage (26-15) following a three-point play by Wallen with 9:17 left in the opening half.  A layup by 6-9 senior center Stanley Jones put FMU up 39-30, but the Hurricanes closed the half with an 8-1 spurt to trim the margin to 40-38.

FMU held GSW to only 30 percent (9-of-30) shooting in the opening half.  However, after halftime the Hurricanes increased intensity.  GSW connected on 17-of-29 field goal attempts and 15-of-19 free throws over the final 20 minutes.

Baskets by Wallen and Smith pushed FMU ahead 44-38 just after intermission, but GSW answered with a 14-0 run that put the Hurricanes ahead for good.  The FMU deficit would swell to 12 points at 67-55 with 11:21 left, but Francis Marion rallied to trail only 74-72 following a fast-break layup by Kendrick Robinson with 5:55 on the clock.

The Patriot rally would stall there as FMU missed its next four shots and GSW scored the game's next nine points.

Both teams committed only eight turnovers apiece.

01-03-09 4:00 pm at Americus, GA
GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN 92, FRANCIS MARION 79

FRANCIS MARION (8-1, 1-1 PBC)
French, Matt 6-7 6-7 19; Wallen, Anthony 5-9 1-1 14; Smith, Sam 5-9 1-2 11;
Bjornsson, Brynjar 4-10 1-1 10; Jones, Stanley 3-12 1-4 7; Robinson,
Kendrick 3-8 0-0 6; Clark, Kevin 2-6 0-0 5; Boyd, Simel 2-5 1-2 5; Jones,
Crayton 0-4 2-2 2; Power, Houston 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-70 13-19 79.
GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN (5-4, 1-1 PBC)
Rawls, Chris 4-6 15-18 23; Adside, Damayrius 6-10 8-11 22; Scott, Marcus
5-11 7-8 18; Mobley, Evan 4-8 0-0 11; Sargent, Anthony 4-12 2-2 11; Russell,
Rick 2-6 1-2 5; Sims, Brandon 1-5 0-0 2; Roderick, Ric 0-1 0-0 0;
McGee-Jones, Sedale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 33-41 92.
Halftime:  Francis Marion 40 GSW 38
3-point goals--Francis Marion 6-19 (Wallen, Anthony 3-6; Clark, Kevin 1-2;
Bjornsson, Brynjar 1-5; French, Matt 1-2; Boyd, Simel 0-1; Robinson,
Kendrick 0-2; Smith, Sam 0-1), Georgia Southwestern 7-17 (Mobley, Evan 3-6;
Adside, Damayrius 2-3; Sargent, Anthony 1-5; Scott, Marcus 1-2; Rawls, Chris
0-1). Fouled out--Francis Marion-French, Matt; Bjornsson, Brynjar; Clark,
Kevin, Georgia Southwestern-None. Rebounds--Francis Marion 36 (Jones,
Crayton 6; Clark, Kevin 6), Georgia Southwestern 41 (Rawls, Chris 8;
Russell, Rick 8). Assists--Francis Marion 12 (Robinson, Kendrick 4), Georgia
Southwestern 12 (Adside, Damayrius 5). Total fouls--Francis Marion 31,
Georgia Southwestern 20. Technical fouls--None. A-174