ATLANTA – Georgia State knew it had an inside advantage against Hofstra, but the visiting Pride answered with outside accuracy to pull away at the end for a 76-63 win on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.
The Panthers dominated the boards, 40-28, and had 19 offensive rebounds. But, a quartet of Hofstra outside shooters hit at a 55 percent rate on 11-of-20 to make up the difference for the No. 12-ranked Mid-Major team in the nation and No. 64 ranked team in RPI. Georgia State had also entered the game ranked No. 4 in the nation for the season in allowing opponents to make just 27.8 outside the three-point arc.
Georgia State (7-12, 3-6) was matching Hofstra (15-5, 8-1) through the second half, staying within three and four points through the first eight minutes of the final half. But, three more outside bombs sparked a final Hofstra run to get the lead into double figures. State closed back to 64-55 at with seven minutes to play, but could not make a final push to take a late lead like they had in the first season match at Hofstra in that 62-59 Pride win.
Georgia State was led by Ryan McBride with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Leonard Mendez added 13 points and Lance Perique contributed 11 points. Center Deven Dickerson led with 10 rebounds and added eight points in the paint. For Mendez, it marks a ninth consecutive game of scoring in double figures. Rashad Chase chipped in with seven points and six rebounds. Point guard Ron Larris had three assists and zero turnovers as he leads CAA point guards in fewest turnovers on the season. It marked a ninth straight game Larris has been a plus or even in assists-to-turnovers as he is a plus 20 on the season.
Hofstra's guards were its leaders again as Antoine Agudio scored 22 points, Loren Stokes added 20 points and Carlos Rivera chipped in 14 more points. Wing Zygis Sestokas scored 12 points with his four three-point baskets. Agudio and Stokes average 20 points a game and make Hofstra one of just two teams in the nation with a pair of 20-point scorers.
“This resembled the first game where they made a run, then we made a run,” Coach Perry said. “We weathered their early storm of three's and came right back. Had we not missed those free throws in the first half, we could have been ahead at halftime again like at their place. Our energy level was up and we tried a lot of different things tonight. They hit some tough shots and made key plays, but we kept fighting and gave them trouble inside.”
Georgia State hit the game's first three-point basket and led 3-2 before Hofstra started making some treys and opened a 27-12 lead by making nine of its first 15 shots. But, Georgia State quickly responded with a 9-0 run of its own to close back to 27-12 at 7:44.
The Panthers continued to whittle away to close to 35-33 with 1:42 to go in the first half. Hofstra took a 38-34 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Deven Dickerson's follow closed the margin to 43-40 at 17:40. State was within four points three more times, but Hofstra answered each time to still own a 53-47 advantage with 12 minutes left. Agudio hit a trey and Rivera hit a pair of treys in the key Pride run. Treys by Mendez and McBride closed the margin to 64-55 at 7:11 for the final Panther run.
Georgia State goes on the road for a Saturday night game at William & Mary at 7 p.m. with a live broadcast on WRAS-FM (88.5).
