ATHENS —Georgia’s Anthony “Antman” Edwards scored 29 points and fellow freshman Sahvir Wheeler scored 10 points with 8 assists in a win over The Citadel.
UGA, playing with 10 new players this season, scored the 95-86 win over the South Carolina military school before a rowdy crowd at Stegeman Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Graduate-transfer Donnell Gresham and senior Tyree Crump each scored 13 points for Georgia, and junior Rayshaun Hammonds narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 10 points with nine rebounds.
Georgia (2-0) never trailed The Citadel (0-2), but the game was not without some suspense.
The Citadel went on an 8-0 run to cut the UGA lead to 74-73 midway through the second half. Hayden Brown’s trey triggered a Tom Crean timeout with 9:39 remaining.
Crean re-entered Wheeler into the game, and the diminutive playmaker went to work, turning up the tempo and driving the lane.
Georgia went on a 10-3 spurt to build a comfortable 84-76 lead at the 7:22 mark on a Donnell Gresham steal and breakaway dunk. The Citadel drew no closer than 4 points for the remainder of the game.
Edwards flashed his offensive takeover skills just prior to The Citadel’s late run.
The projected NBA lottery pick scored nine straight points for the Bulldogs during one stretch of the second half, putting the ball in the bucket four different ways on four consecutive possessions.
Edwards scored on a transition layup, a jump shot, a 3-pointer in succession ending his personal run with a reverse dunk that made it 69-62.
Georgia had held a 48-40 lead at the half despite being out-rebounded 25-19.
Crump and Amanze Ngumezi scored 10 points apiece through the first 20 minutes, while Edwards had just 6 points at the break on 3-of-9 shooting.
Georgia returns to action at 7 p.m. on Friday in Athens against Delaware State before a Nov. 20 showdown with rival Georgia Tech in Stegeman Coliseum.
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