ATLANTA (Jan. 3) – Despite losing two starters within the previous 24 hours, Georgia State re-grouped for battle with Drexel, the CAA's first-place team and the No. 35 team in the national polls. Drexel used its league-leading defense today to hang on for a 61-55 win at the Georgia State Sports Arena in a matinee noon game.

Scrappy State could never overcome the Dragons, closing to five points twice during the final three minutes at 51-46 with 3:48 and 53-48 with 2:15. Drexel made 7-of-9 free throws in those final two minutes to win its eighth straight game and improve to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the CAA.

Georgia State's starting wing Brandon Cartwright (a 6-5 senior) suffered a broken hand/finger in yesterday's practice and team captain and two-guard Leonard Mendez was suffering from a bad-case of the flu that had sent him to the emergency room. Reserve 6-7 forward Wesley Turner is already sidelined with a broken nose sustained two games ago.

“Our kids responded to the adversity and tried to make up the difference,” Coach Michael Perry said post game. “At halftime, I encouraged them to keep playing hard because we had held them to 34 percent shooting and were still in it. We outscored them in the second half and I was proud that the kids kept fighting. I wish we could have gotten the W today, but we'll just have to learn from this and move on to Saturday's game and try to get that win.”

Georgia State (4-8, 0-2) got 17 points and 8 rebounds from forward Lance Perique and 11 points each from forward Rashad Chase and guard Trae Goldston.

Drexel got an outstanding performance from 6-10 Chaz Crawford, who ranks among the national leaders in blocks and leads the CAA in rebounds, as he produced 17 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots. Drexel's 6-9 center Frank Elegar added 13 points and seven rebounds to help Drexel hold a 39-23 rebound advantage today. The Dragons also got 11 points and four steals from point guard Bashir Mason.

The game started with each team taking a lead and being tied at 5-5 at 16:27. Then, Drexel went on 9-0 run, sparked by a trey from Scott Rodgers to open a 14-5 lead at the 12-minute mark. Drexel enjoyed its largest lead of the game at 23-12 at 4:57 and 27-16 at 1:41 before taking a 27-18 lead into the locker room. Georgia State had made 11 turnovers and shot just 23 percent in that first half.

In the second half, Georgia State came back re-charged. Down 29-20 with18:08 on the clock, the host Panthers scored eight straight points with a trey by reserve guard Norman Mitchell and five from Perique to close to 29-28 at 15:52. A basket by State's Ryan McBride cut the score to 34-32 with 13:28 left. That's when Drexel's Crawford went to work inside with back-to-back baskets to open a 38-32 margin, as he would end up scoring 13 of the next 18 points for the Dragons.
The pesky Panthers kept closing the margin as State shot 52.4 percent in the second half and hit 13-of-17 free throws and had just seven turnovers. But, Drexel's offensive rebounds and free throws enabled them to claim the road win, their fifth road victory of the young season. Drexel scored 30 of its 61 points in the paint to State's 16, but State scored 20 points off of Drexel's turnovers compared to 13 for the Dragons. Drexel held an eighth opponent under 60 points this year and a second-straight CAA opponent as it had limited George Mason to 49 on Dec. 28.

In pre-game ceremonies, Georgia State retired the No. 5 jersey of All-American forward Thomas Terrell, a key member of the 2001 29-5 NCAA Final 32 team and the 20-11 postseason NIT team. Terrell was back in the states for a few days of break from Spain from his European league team, where he is a two-time league MVP.

Georgia State will return to action at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. vs. Towson.