With Charles Mann sidelined by injury, the Georgia Bulldogs had to rely on a wing player and a little-used walk on at point guard to hold off Lipscomb on Saturday.
Georgia defeated Lipscomb 84-75 at Stegeman Coliseum without Mann, the team leader in points and assists. Georgia coach Mark Fox said Mann is out with a bruised knee bone.
“Charles has an injury that just needs time to heal,” Fox said. “I wish I could tell you how long that’s going to be. He hasn’t practiced in 12 days.”
The Bulldogs (4-4) made do with Brandon Morris and Taylor Echols running the point against Lipscomb (4-6). Morris is a 6-7 wing player and Echols had played a total of four minutes this season before Saturday.
Morris scored a team-high 17 points and added three assists and two blocked shots.
“I used to play point guard when I was younger,” Morris said. “My uncle used to have me dribble tennis balls when I was little. That kind of helped me with my handle. I used to play street ball a lot, too, and you have to have handles.”
Echols, a junior from McDonough, earned a roster spot through an open tryout last season.
“He’s been playing so good in practice it’s like you have to put him in there,” Morris said.
Echols responded with nine points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals in 23 minutes. He helped the Bulldogs navigate Lipscomb’s tricky zone defense
“Brandon is able to play there (at point guard) some, but he hasn’t worked a lot against zone,” Fox said. “We were obviously better with Taylor in there against zone than Brandon.”
It was the second of five straight home games for the Bulldogs, who had been idle since defeating Chattanooga 87-56 on Dec. 2. The Bulldogs have won three games in a row since losing to Davidson, Temple and Nebraska at the Charleston Classic.
Even without Mann, Georgia scored at least 80 points for the fifth time in eight games this season. The Bulldogs scored more than 70 points in the other three games.
Fox said Georgia is more balanced with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope now in the NBA.
“We’re a better offensive team because we’ve got more guys who can complete plays,” Fox said. “We are not just sitting there relying on one person.”
Bulldogs reserve forward Nemanja Djurisic scored 16 points and Donte’ Williams had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Georgia appeared on its way to an easy victory when it led 54-35 in the second half. But the Bisons rallied behind junior forward Martin Smith, who scored 18 of his game-high 23 points after halftime.
Smith made consecutive 3-pointers to get Lipscomb to 63-59 with eight minutes to play. After a Georgia timeout, the Bisons stole the inbound pass and Smith missed an open 3-point attempt.
Georgia got the lead back to 71-62 with four minutes left. After Smith made two free throws, Morris made a 3-pointer and dunked off a pass from Kenny Gaines for a 78-67 lead with two minutes to play.
“In the second half I think their kids played harder than our kids did,” Fox said.
The Bulldogs play Gardner-Webb at 11:30 a.m Thursday in a game to be attended by area school children. The Bulldogs finish the homestand Dec. 21 against Western Carolina before nonconference road games against Colorado and George Washington.
Georgia opens the SEC schedule at Missouri on Jan. 8.
