STATESBORO, Ga.—Georgia Southern's Tookie Brown scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Eagles to a 78-58 win over Stetson, Tuesday at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Angel Rivera led Stetson (4-9) with 15 points. Derick Newton added 12 and Brian Pegg recoded his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Hatters struggled shooting the ball in all phases against the Eagles (4-6), hitting just 41.5 percent of their shots from the field overall. Stetson made just five 3-pointers after making 42 in the previous three games. The Hatters were also just 9-of-19 from the free throw line.

Georgia Southern took control of the game midway through the first half, using a 15-6 run to turn a 23-16 lead into a 38-22 advantage with 1:59 left in the half.

Stetson trailed 40-24 at halftime as Rivera scored 12 points in the first half.

The Hatters tried to get back into the game early in the second half, opening the final 20 minutes by scoring 11 of the first 13 points to cut the Eagles' lead to 44-35 with 16:17 to play. But GSU pushed the lead up to 50-36 as Brown scored five of the next six points for the Eagles.

Stetson had one last run, cutting the deficit to seven when five straight points by Leo Goodman made it a 52-45 affair with 11:22 to go. The Eagles, though, held Stetson scoreless for more than five minutes as they surged to a 63-45 advantage with 6:33 to play.

Brown finished his day 10-of-18 from the field with three 3-pointers. He added five assists and a pair of steals to his stat line.

The Eagles shot 51 percent for the game, making eight 3-pointers. Stetson out-rebounded GSU, 37-35.  

Stetson takes a break for the holidays before returning to action when the Hatters host Florida Tech, 1 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 30 at Edmunds Center.