AMERICUS, GA – Georgia Southwestern State University scored the final seven points of the game, including a crucial three-point play by Chandler Thomas with 44 seconds left, to grab an 86-82 Peach Belt Conference win over Francis Marion University, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 13) in men's basketball action.

Francis Marion (15-10, 7-9) will return to Florence to entertain Augusta University for Faculty Appreciation Night on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.  Saturday's loss drops the Patriots into fifth place in the East Division standings, one game behind both Armstrong State University and UNC Pembroke.

Sophomore guard Detrek Browning led FMU with 23 points and nine rebounds.  The Columbia native is now only 31 points shy of the 1,000-point mark for his career.  Sophomore Mike Davis Jr. scored 19 points and junior guard Alante Fenner 17, while senior center Mykel Harris chipped in nine points with a solid effort of the Patriot bench.

Adam Thoseby led the Hurricanes (10-13, 6-10) with 31 points and eight rebounds, while connecting on 6-of-7 three-point attempts.  Former USC Gamecock Damien Leonard scored 17 points and Thomas tallied 15 points and eight rebounds.

The tightly contested game featured 12 ties and 29 lead changes.

The Hurricanes' late 7-0 run erased an 82-79 Francis Marion lead with 1:31 left.  Thomas' three-point play put the Hurricanes ahead 84-82.  As in Wednesday's loss at Armstrong State University, FMU had multiple opportunities to tie the game in the final seconds.  On Saturday, the Patriots missed a trio of three-point attempts in the final 16 seconds that would have tied the score at 85.  Following the final miss, Thoseby was fouled and he sealed the win with a free throw with one tick remaining.

GSW took an early 7-2 lead only to see Francis Marion storm back with a 9-2 run.  A three-pointer by Davis Jr. expanded the Patriot lead to 19-13 midway through the first half.  The Hurricanes then held FMU scoreless for over three minutes while netting 10 straight points to take a 23-19 advantage.

Georgia Southwestern led 26-21, but Francis Marion re-took the lead thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Browning.  The two squads traded the lead until Thoseby scored the final five points of the stanza to give GSW a 38-35 lead at intermission.

FMU quickly regained the lead in the second half and took a 45-42 lead following a three-pointer by Davis Jr.  GSW responded with eight straight points, but Francis Marion regained the lead at 53-52 on two Kenneth Jackson free throws.

Trailing 62-61 the Hurricanes embarked on a 12-2 run that produced the largest margin of the game at 73-64 with 7:08 on the clock.  The Patriots answered with a 14-4 run that was capped by Browning's coast-to-coast fast-break lay-up to put FMU on top 78-77.

After an inside hoop by Thomas, Fenner hit two free throws and Browning converted another fast-break lay-in to give the Patriots an 82-79 advantage.

Francis Marion connected on 42.6 percent of its field goal attempts, was 10-of-32 from beyond the three-point arc, and hit 14-of-21 free throws.  GSW shot 46.9 percent, was 9-of-30 from long range, and shot 17-of-21 at the charity stripe.