Brown, Georgia Southern beat UL Monroe, advance to semis

NEW ORLEANS -- Tookie Brown had 13 points and eight rebounds and No. 3 seed Georgia Southern beat No. 6 seed UL Monroe 63-55 in the Sun Belt Tournament quarterfinals on Friday night.

Mike Hughes added 11 points for Georgia Southern, which advanced to face No. 2 seed Georgia State in the semifinals on Saturday. The rivals split the regular season series.

The Eagles (21-11) led almost the entire way but briefly surrendered the lead at 38-37, the Warhawks' first time in front since scoring the opening basket. The Eagles responded with a 14-2 run capped at 51-40 on Brown's layup with 5:30 left.

UL Monroe (16-15) cut the deficit to 51-45 and got no closer.

Sam McDaniel, Marvin Jean-Pierre and Michael Ertel had 13 points each for the Warhawks, who shot just 29.7 percent from the field. Travis Munnings had 14 rebounds to go with eight points and McDaniel grabbed 11 boards.