ATLANTA-Jihad Ali scored a career-high 22 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 42 seconds left, as Georgia State knocked off George Mason, 61-57, Wednesday at the GSU Sports Arena.
Knocking off the Colonial Athletic Association's first-place team, the Panthers (10-14, 4-8 CAA) snapped a three-game skid while halting Mason's (15-8, 10-2 CAA) seven-game winning streak.
With GSU trailing 57-53 with under three minutes to play, Joe Dukes hit a pair of free throws to pull the Panthers within two with 2:37 left. Ali rebounded a miss by Mason's Cam Long, but Dukes missed the front end of a one-and-one.
GSU forced another miss, and this time Ousman Krubally grabbed the defensive rebound. After a timeout, Dukes fed Ali in the corner for the trey to put the Panthers ahead, 58-57. After another stop by the Panthers, Krubally was fouled and sank both free throws for a 60-57 advantage with 20 seconds left.
Georgia State survived two more missed shots by the Patriots, and Dukes rebounded and hit a free throw with one second left for the final margin.
"I'm just thankful for this team. We lost three close ones on the road, but they kept fighting," said GSU head coach Rod Barnes. "Jihad Ali hit a big shot for us, and at the end our defense got a couple of stops to close out the win. Down the stretch, I kept telling them, they have to believe they're going to win the game. And they did."
Ali, a sophomore from Atlanta's M.L. King High, came off the bench to hit 9-of-13 shots, including two three-pointers, to easily eclipse his previous high of 12 points. He also grabbed six rebounds.
"Jihad is a very good shooter, and I could tell this has been coming," said Barnes. "We sat down this week and had a little heart-to-heart, and I told him how good I thought he could be. He can put the ball in the hole, and he has a great feel for the game. He just had to have the confidence in himself."
Dukes tied his career best with 10 assists, along with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals for the senior from Cuthbert, Ga. Freshman center James Vincent contributed six points and a game-high seven rebounds.
The Panthers trailed 27-22 at the intermission after shooting just 29.6 percent in the first half. GSU improved to 52 percent from the field in a second half that featured 11 lead changes.
Ali's first trey of the game gave the Panthers a 53-51 lead with 4:28 to play, but Mason answered with three straight layups to move ahead 57-53 with 3:23 left.
Ryan Pearson led Mason with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Luke Hancock added 10 points. Leading scorer Cam Long managed just 1-for-9 shooting for two points.
"We started changing our defense down the stretch, and that helped us," said Barnes. " We went zone because their penetration was hurting us."
Georgia State remains at home to host William and Mary Saturday at 6 p.m. in the annual Homecoming game.
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