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GREENSBORO — Perhaps it was only fitting that UNCG's first full season of men's basketball in the Greensboro Coliseum ended with some drama.

A 20-point Spartans lead melted to two before Kyle Randall secured a loose ball and clutched it to his chest as time ran out, preserving an 81-79 win over Georgia Southern on Monday night.

The Spartans improved their record to 6-12 in Southern Conference play and earned the No. 4 seed in the North Division. They will play the South's No. 5 seed, Furman, in the first round of the league tournament Friday at approximately 4:30 p.m. at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. UNCG split with the Paladins during the regular season.

"It's a little different scenario now," said UNCG guard Mikko Koivisto. "You lose and you're done with your year. We know them, they know us, so it's concentrating on doing your own stuff well."

UNCG finished with a 4-10 record on its new home court, going 4-4 against Southern Conference opponents.

"We've played hard here in each game, but haven't won as much as we wanted," said coach Mike Dement. "It's good for these guys, (and I'm) especially proud for these seniors to go out with a win in the last game."

One of those seniors was Ben Stywall, who scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. It was his 14th double-double of the season, tying Kyle Hines' school record.

"I feel like we started laying down the foundation," Stywall said of the Spartans' initial foray into their new home. "Hopefully, it builds and just gets better and bigger and stronger from here on out."

Five scholarship seniors started for UNCG (7-22) and all contributed. Stywall's 19 points and seven rebounds helped establish a 45-37 halftime lead. The Spartans carved up Georgia Southern's press and got numerous easy baskets, scoring 36 of their points in the paint.

The lead swelled to 63-43 with 10:59 remaining, but from there what had come easily became laborious. The Eagles hit enough layups and free throws, mixed in with an occasional 3-pointer, to chip away at the lead.

The Spartans missed enough free throws to keep the door open and clung to a three-point lead with 1.6 seconds left with the Eagles at the foul line. Ben Drayton hit one free throw and missed the second. Teammate Tyler Troupe gathered the rebound and flipped the ball outside, but Randall picked it off just before the buzzer.

"Kyle made a nice rotation on that last play to steal the ball," Dement said. "It was a good play by them to make the first, miss the second. I think our guys knew they were going to do that, Kyle rotated and stole the outlet pass because that's the way you do it, rebound and kick it out."

GEORGIA SOUTHERN (9-22) — Spencer 2-4 1-5 5, Hanson 6-15 2-2 20, Drayton III 1-7 4-6 6, Powers 4-12 7-9 15, Wohlleb 5-10 4-4 18, Rucker 0-2 0-2 0, Johnson 3-5 0-2 6, Troupe 1-3 3-4 5, Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Baskerville 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 23-59 23-36 79.

UNCG (7-22) — Stywall 12-15 6-10 30, Brown 2-5 1-2 5, Koivisto 4-8 2-3 12, Smith 1-1 2-4 4, Toney 2-11 0-0 4, Sellers 2-2 0-2 4, VanDussen 3-5 1-2 7, Randall 3-11 3-6 9, Cole 3-3 0-0 6, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-62 15-29 81.

Georgia Southern 37 42 — 79
UNCG 45 36 — 81

Percentages—Georgia Southern (FG .390, FT .639), UNCG (FG .516, FT .517).
3-point goals—Georgia Southern 10-28 (Hanson 6-13, Wohlleb 4-8, Powers 0-3, Drayton III 0-4), UNCG 2-15 (Koivisto 2-6, VanDussen 0-1, Randall 0-2, Toney 0-6).
Fouled out—Koivisto, Spencer.
Rebounds—Georgia Southern 33 (Spencer 6), UNCG 43 (Stywall 11).
Assists—Georgia Southern 13 (Powers 9), UNCG 15 (Toney 6).
Blocks—Georgia Southern 2 (Powers, Troupe), UNCG 1 (Brown).
Turnovers—Georgia Southern 14 (Powers 6, Drayton 3, Troupe 2), UNCG 14 (Randall 3, Stywall 3, Toney 2, Koivisto 2).
Steals—Georgia Southern 6 (Johnson 3), UNCG 7 (Brown 2, Randall 2).
Total fouls—Georgia Southern 25, UNCG 28.
A—3,566.
Officials—Doug Sirmons, Raymond Styons, Jamie Luckie.