Boston, Mass. - Trailing by 19 points with just less than seven minutes remaining, Georgia State mounted a furious rally that fell just short at Northeastern on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers held the Huskies without a field goal over the final 6:56, but fell 70-65 at Matthews Arena.
Joel Smith's lay-up gave the Huskies a 57-38 lead, but it was the last field goal they would make. The Panthers finished the game on a 27-13 run, as the Huskies made 13 free throws, finishing the game 19-of-22 from the free throw line.
Freshman Javonte Maynor nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game with 1:06 remaining to cut the Huskies lead to 64-59 and continue to swing momentum in the Panthers favor, but State could not get any closer.
"Our big guys got several open shots today and just were not able to finish," commented head coach Rod Barnes. "But our guys kept fighting and scratching. Rather than just hanging their heads when Northeastern built a big lead, they really stepped up. I thought they worked hard and battled all the way to the end."
Maynor was one of four Panthers in double figures and finished the game with 12 points. Junior Eric Buckner led GSU with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Georgia State lost for the seventh straight time, five of which have come on the road, to fall to 8-13 overall and 3-8 in the CAA.
Northeastern (7-15, 3-8 CAA) won for the third straight time after starting conference play 0-8.
All-CAA honoree Chaisson Allen led the Huskies with 22 points and eight rebounds while dishing out four assists. He was one of four Huskies in double-figures.
Georgia State's bench came up big for head coach Rod Barnes, outscoring Northeastern 46-2. Redshirt-junior Jihad Ali finished with 11 points off the bench on 4-of-7 shooting, including two three-pointers.
Junior James Fields scored 10 points and dished out seven assists, while junior Josh Micheaux finished with seven points, seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Despite fouling out, Joel Smith finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting for Northeastern. Jonathan Lee and Ryan Pierson also scored in double figures for the Huskies, adding 14 and 10 points respectively.
Smith scored nine straight points for Northeastern over a five-minute stretch of the first half, as the Huskies built a 12-point lead. Back-to-back lay-ups by Allen capped an 11-0 run with 8:26 remaining in the first half.
"We did not contest Northeastern's shot well enough at the beginning of the game," continued Barnes. "I thought we were then able to settle in and make some easy shots to get back into the game."
Freshman Harold Doby's steal and dunk with 1:37 left in the half capped a 5-0 Panther run and cut the Huskies' lead to 28-21, before Northeastern answered with a run of their own to extend the lead to 33-23 at halftime.
The Panthers opened the second half on a 5-0 run, capped by a Maynor three-pointer, to slice the Huskies' advantage to 33-28.
Five points seemed to be the closest the Panthers could get all afternoon as Northeastern followed with a 16-2 run, holding the Panthers scoreless for nearly five minutes to extend the lead to 49-30.
Georgia State finished the game forcing 20 Northeastern turnovers, which the Panthers converted into 16 points, but GSU managed to shoot just 37.1 percent from the field, including 8-of-24 from behind the arc.
Northeastern hit 48.9 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from behind the arc, knocking down 5-of-9 three-pointers.
Georgia State will return home to face UNC Wilmington on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Tickets for that game, as well as the Panthers remaining home games can be bought by calling 1-866-GA-STATE or by going online to GeorgiaStateSports.com.
The game can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5 beginning 30 minutes prior to tip.
--GeorgiaStateSports.com--
