Men's Basketball Defeats Georgia Southern, 55-49

by **PonyPride** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:11 pm

Men's Basketball Defeats Georgia Southern, 55-49
Robert Nyakundi Records 1,000th Point And Hits 200th 3-Point Field Goal In Win

Nov. 27, 2011

DALLAS - The SMU men's basketball team improved to 4-3 on the year Sunday with a 55-49 victory over Georgia Southern at Moody Coliseum. Cannen Cunningham led the way for SMU with a career-high 18 points, while London Giles and Robert Nyakundi scored 14 and 11, respectively. Nyakundi reached two historic marks on the day, tallying his 1,000th career point and connecting on his 200th three-point field goal during the contest. The Mustangs recorded a season-high rebound margin on the day, pulling down 36 boards to GSU's 25 rebounds.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Georgia Southern got on the board and took a 27-18 lead into the lockerroom at the half.

In the second half, SMU opened up a 15-point advantage at the 12:50 mark when Jeremiah Samarrippas found Cunningham for an easy bucket to make it 42-27. Georgia Southern then went on a 22-13 run to end the game, including cutting the Mustangs lead to two points at 51-49 after GSU's Jelani Hewitt connected on a jumper just inside the three-point line at the 1:42 mark. SMU then scored the final four points of the game to secure the victory.

With the win, SMU remains perfect at Moody Coliseum this year at 3-0 and are 17-5 over its last 22 home games on the Hilltop. The Mustangs are back in action next Sunday, Dec. 4, when they travel to Little Rock, Ark. to face Arkansas-Little Rock. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.

TEAM NOTES
- Season-high +11 rebounding margin
- Nyakundi scored 1,000th point, also made 200th 3FG

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Robert Nyakundi
- Scored 11 points
- Scored his 1000th career point on a FT with 15 seconds left in the game
- Is 36th all-time in scoring (1,000 points)
- Has reached double digits in five of six games this season
- Was 3-6 on 3FG
- Made his 200th career 3FG with 4:57 left in 1st half
- Is 4th all-time at SMU in 3FG made with 202
- Is 15-24 on 3FG in his last four games
- Was 2-2 on FT
- Is now 20-24 on the season
- Had 6 rebounds

Cannen Cunningham
- Scored a career-high 18 points
- Was 7-9 on FG
- Grabbed 7 rebounds
- Added 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 steal

London Giles
- Scored a career-high 14 points
- Has scored in double figures every game this season
- Made a career-high 4 3FG
- Grabbed 4 rebounds

Jalen Jones
- Grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds - Added 4 points and an assist

Aliaksei Patsevich
- Had a career-high 3 assists
- Grabbed 4 rebounds

Jeremiah Samarrippas
- Had a season-high 7 assists
- Added 2 steals

by **PonyPride** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:11 pm

SMU men's basketball head coach Matt Doherty

Robert Nyakundi, Cannen Cunningham

by **gostangs** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 9:20 pm

matt is a great coach when he is loose - but terrible when he is tight - so hope he continues to feel at home here and have some fun - since that will bring us more victories.

by **2ndandlong** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:11 pm

Go Mustangs!

by **mustangbill67** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:26 am

insightful interviews. Cannen is going to be fun to watch the next 4 years.

by **Ikus** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:29 am

Were you at the game today? Cunningham looked awesome. No, he's not a finished product, but he's better than most freshmen we have had in a long time, and he also looks like he's just scratching the surface.

Terrific interviews. Thanks

by **Monkeystang** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:36 am

I think Cannen is going to make it exciting for the team. He had a great game on Sunday. I hope he can keep it up.