NEWARK, Del. (Jan. 17) – Georgia State won its second straight Colonial Athletic Association road game, a first in its short CAA history, with a 61-44 win on the road at Bob Carpenter Center in front of 2,731.
The Panthers have now won three of the past five CAA games to move into a tie for sixth place in the 12-team league. They led by six at the half and never let Delaware any closer in tonight's win. Georgia State held Delaware to 27 percent shooting overall and 14 percent outside the three-point arc.
State (7-10, 3-4) grew a six-point halftime lead to double figures at 48-37 at 8:06 and kept it in double figures the rest of the way. Forward Lance Perique led State with 19 points, while sophomore forward Rashad Chase had his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-best 15 rebounds. Sophomore guard Leonard Mendez contributed 12 points, five assists and five rebounds. The Panthers held a 41-37 rebound advantage and shot 47 percent from the field.
Delaware (3-15, 1-6) got 11 points from guard Calvin Cannon and 10 points and 14 rebounds from forward Herb Courtney.
“The defense was outstanding tonight,” Coach Perry said, “And as I always say the final phase of the defense is the rebounding and we controlled that. We were athletic enough on defense to fill the gaps and cut off some of what they wanted to do.”
Georgia State built its six-point halftime lead to 38-28 at 14:31 with a pair of second-chance baskets. Delaware's challenge closed the game to 39-33 at 12:06, but Chase and Perique got the lead back to 10 at 10:24. When Delaware closed back to six for the final time at 43-37 at 9:33, Ron Larris answered with a trey from the corner, Chase scored in the paint and Mendez stole and pass and drove for a lay-up to make it 50-37 at 7:35.
In the first half, Georgia State jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead at 17:30 before the host Blue Hens made a free throw at 16:32 to get on the scoreboard. The visiting Panthers hit 8 of their first 11 shots in opening a 16-7 lead at 12:26 with Perique scoring eight of those 16 points. A free throw by Rashad Chase at 11:58 gave State its largest first half lead of 10 points at 17-7. A flurry of offensive rebounds and free throws by Delaware closed the gap to 17-14 at 8:15. Delaware twice got the lead to one point, the last at 24-23 at 2:50. A three-point basket by Leonard Mendez and two free throws by Perique gave State a 29-23 halftime lead. Perique scored 14 of State's 29 first-half points.
Georgia State will return home for a Saturday night CAA game with the James Madison Dukes. It will mark JMU's first-ever game in Atlanta as State traveled to Harrisonburg, Va. for a win in last year's inaugural meeting between these two league opponents. Tip time is a special 7 p.m. Saturday “date night” game.
