ATLANTA (Dec. 7) – Georgia State's fans provided the fourth largest home crowd ever at the Georgia State Sports Arena Thursday night in hopes of sparking the host Panthers to an upset of Florida State. However, the visiting Seminoles turned back Georgia State, 87-55.
Florida State made its first five shots of the game and built a 15-0 lead before Trae Goldston hit a three to get Georgia State started at the 16:10 mark. Lance Perique's basket made it 18-5 at 15:58. But, Florida State stayed hot and built a 51-28 halftime margin by shooting 53 percent from the field and 100 percent from the line as the Panthers hit 35 percent of its shots in the opening half.
The Panthers re-grouped in the locker room at halftime and battled back with a 12-4 run to start the second half to close to 16 points at 55-39 as the fans roared their approval. But, three consecutive three-point baskets by the visitors opened a 64-43 lead again and the Seminoles looked like the team that had just beaten No. 4 Florida on Sunday.
"Plain and simple, you play against a team like this, you have to be patient offensively and take care of the basketball and then shoot a pretty high percentage," Coach Michael Perry said post game. "That is the formula when you play a team better than you are. We did not execute our game plan tonight. Their defense wasn't very accomodating."
"I really want to thank our fans for turning out tonight and giving us great support," he continued. "They were great and we appreciate them. We hope they will come back when we return home in January for the important CAA games and give us that kind of home court advantage."
Georgia State got 10 points and seven rebounds from sophomore forward Rashad Chase and 10 points and five rebounds from sophomore guard Leonard Mendez. Senior forward Lance Perique led with 10 rebounds to go with eight points.
Florida State's All-America candidate Al Thornton scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while metro Atlanta guard Toney Douglas led with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Guard Jason Rich added 10 more points for the Seminoles.
Florida State (7-2) won its third straight game and has lost to only to the No. 3 and 13 teams in the country, both of those games on the road. Georgia State (3-5) had its three-game home win streak end. The Seminoles hit nine three-point baskets and shot 49 percent for the game.
Georgia State showed its effort by getting a season-best 19 offensive rebounds as Florida State held a narrow 41-38 rebound advantage despite the hosts shooting just 34 percent for the game.
Georgia State will be off for a week for final exams and return to action next Saturday night, Dec. 16 at Alabama State.
