Blue Cain scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half as Georgia defeated Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
The 11th-seeded Bulldogs (17-15) will move on to face sixth-seeded Florida (21-10) on Thursday.
Justin Hill scored 17 points and RJ Melendez and Noah Thomasson had 10 each for Georgia.
Nick Honor scored 14 points and Connor Vanover had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Tigers (8-24), who finished the season on a 19-game losing streak. Tamar Bates and Noah Carter each added 11 points.
The Tigers shot 1 for 11 from the floor while falling behind 13-3. Sean East II, the Tigers’ leading scorer this season, missed his first six shots.
After the Bulldogs pushed their lead to 16-5 on a 3-point jumper by Hill. Honor stabilized the Tigers by making three free throws.
Georgia’s lead grew to 21-9 on RJ Sunahara’s layup. The Tigers closed the first half on a 7-0 run to cut their deficit to 31-30.
Carter scored on a baseline cut to the basket, Vanover hit a jumper from the key and East converted a three-point play to finish the first-half run.
Bates opened the second half with a three-point play off an offensive rebound to give Missouri its first lead of the game at 33-31.
Missouri extended its lead to 43-35 with Honor’s 3-pointer and Vanover’s tip-in. Georgia got a 3-pointer from Thomasson and a trio of 3-pointers by Cain to cut its deficit to 53-52.
The Tigers went on a 6-0 run to take a seven-point lead with 3:38 left to play, but the Bulldogs rallied again — with Cain stealing the ball and feeding Melendez for a layup to trim Georgia’s deficit to 59-57.
Hill’s 3-pointer jumper put the Bulldogs up 60-59 with 1:43 left. Hill hit two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to make it 62-59, then Carter missed a 3-pointer and Cain sealed the win with two free throws.
–Field Level Media
