Harrisonburg, Va.?Georgia State fell at James Madison, 70-60, in its final regular-season game as the Panthers rallied to within two points in the final three minutes but could not complete the comeback Saturday at the JMU Convocation Center.
Leonard Mendez and Trae Goldston led State (9-20, 5-13) with 15 points each and Rashad Chase added 12 but the Panthers were undone by 20 turnovers.
With the loss, Georgia State finished in a three-way tie for 10th place, with James Madison and Drexel, in the Colonial Athletic Association standings but with the tiebreakers, the Panthers drew the 12th seed for next weekend's CAA Championship. State will play Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Richmond, Va., against No. 5 seed William and Mary,
Senior Terrance Carter led the Dukes (13-16, 5-13) on Senior Day with 20 points, while three other players were in double figures as Juwann James scored 16, Kyle Swanston 11 and Pierre Curtis 10.
State trailed by 10 with six minutes to play in the game before going on a 9-2 run. Michael Moynihan's three-pointer brought the Panthers within two points at 57-55, but JMU answered with a three by Abdulai Jalloh and State could get no closer.
Forty-nine fouls were called in the game as James Madison shot 39 free throws, making 30, while State managed to hit 12-of-20. The Dukes also had the edge from the field, shooting 47 percent to 39.6 percent for Georgia State.
“We had our opportunities, but we turned the ball over entirely too many times and that cost us the game,” said Georgia State head coach Rod Barnes. “I'm very disappointed because we've been taking good care of the basketball, but today we had way too many turnovers.”
The Panthers started the game slowly, managing just two points in the first eight minutes and fell behind 16-6 midway through the first half. State took its only lead of the game at 26-25 on a jumper by Mendez with a minute left in the half, but JMU regained the advantage on a pair of free throws with four seconds left and never gave it back.
In the second half, State made several mini-runs to pull within two or three points, and a layup by Deven Dickerson cut the deficit to one at 37-26 with 13 minutes to go, but the Panthers could never get over the hump.
“We made runs and they answered. We could never get control of the game,” said Barnes.
--30--
