ATLANTA, GA (Jan. 8) – Georgia State fell to William & Mary, 57-43, in a Colonial Athletic Association game Monday night at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
Georgia State (5-9, 1-3) shot just 24 percent in the first half and 32.7 percent for the game while the visiting Tribe (10-4, 3-1) won for a seventh straight time by shooting 58.3 percent in the second half.
“After that great effort in the double overtime win 48 hours ago, it looked like we were playing in quicksand tonight,” Coach Michael Perry noted post game. “It's kind of hard to explain why. We were only down four at halftime despite the poor shooting, but then we tried to force things to jump start ourselves and only ending up digging a bigger hole for ourselves. We just missed shot after shot after shot tonight.”
With a 22-18 halftime lead, William & Mary broke the game open with a 13-2 run in the first four minutes of the second half to build a 35-20 lead at 15:50, sparked by back-to-back three-point baskets by David Schneider and Laimis Kisielius. State could get no closer than 12 points at 48-36 with five minutes to play after three-point baskets by Ryam McBride and
Trae Goldston.
Georgia State made its first basket of the game to lead 3-0 and then William & Mary ran off 10 straight points, including eight by Kasielius to take a 10-3 lead in the first three and a half minutes. The cold Panthers could make just four of their first 20 shots as they fell behind 17-10 at 8:42. But, State kept battling and closed to three points at 21-18 with two minutes before the Tribe made a free throw to close out the first half at 22-18. The Panthers run was sparked by sophomores Chase and Mendez.
Georgia State got 10 points on the evening from guard
Leonard Mendez, while
Rashad Chase,
Lance Perique and
Ryan McBride each added eight points.
Norman Mitchell led with seven rebounds.
William & Mary was led by Kisielius with 12 points, while Adam Payton, David Schneider, Alex Smith and Nathan Mann contributed seven points. Peter Stein led the Tribe with seven rebounds.
Georgia State will look to make it three straight wins when they travel to Boston to face CAA foe Northeastern on Wednesday night to complete a four games in seven days stretch.
