Greenville, S.C.–Behind a second round 4-over 292, Georgia State jumped three spots and into a tie for tenth at the 21-team Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, S.C. on Saturday. Freshman Jonathan Grey and sophomore Davin White each broke par as the Panthers stand at 14-over with 18 holes to play on Sunday.
The Panthers were in contention on Friday before a tough stretch of holes on the back nine. However, GSU rebounded by shooting just 4-over on the same nine Saturday to move up the leaderboard and followed it with an even par front nine.
Grey, who has yet to finish worse than 19th in a tournament this season and has won three times, including just last weekend at the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular, rebounded from an uncharacteristic 80 on day one to shoot a 2-under 70 on Saturday.
Grey's round included three birdies and just one bogey, moving more than 50 spots up the leaderboard and is now tied for 51st.
White also rebounded after an uncharacteristic first round 75, shooting a second round 1-under 71 on Saturday. White made five birdies and now stands tied for 26th at 2-over.
“I was much more pleased with the way we played today,” commented head coach Joe Inman. “We rebounded after a tough nine holes and were able to move up the leaderboard a little. We need to come out with that same energy on Sunday and see if we can move from tenth into the top five.”
The Panthers are just eight strokes outside of the top five entering the final round.
Junior Grant Cagle shot his second straight 3-over 75 with a pair of birdies and is tied for 51st with Grey at 6-over.
Following a 1-under 71 on Friday, junior Tyler Gruca shot a second round 4-over 76 and now stands at 3-over for the tournament and tied for 37th.
Sophomore Damon Stephenson shot a second round 4-over 76 and stands at 9-over and tied for 77th entering Sunday.
Juniors Ross Mclister, Victor Lavin and Kevin Lee also made the trip competing as individuals. After each opened with 78's on Friday, Mclister and Lavin each shot second round 74's and are now tied for 67th at 8-over.
Lee shot his second straight 79 and is 14-over par and tied for 107th in the 126-player field.
Virginia Tech continues to lead by four strokes entering the final round following a 2-under 286. The Hokies lead No. 17 UNF which is at 6-under. Western Carolina is alone in third at even par following a 1-over 289. Troy tied for the lowest round of the day, a 2-under 286 to move into fourth at 3-over. Winthrop and Iowa State are tied for fifth at 6-over.
Virginia Tech's Trevor Cone and Iowa State's Scott Fernandez, ranked 37th in the country, are tied for the lead at 7-under following rounds of 69 and 68 respectively. Western Carolina's J.T. Poston is third at 6-under, followed by teammate Steven Smith in fourth at 5-under. UNF's M.J. Maguire and Troy's Jake Tucker are tied for fifth at 4-under par.
Georgia State will tee of at 1:10 p.m. off the tenth tee on Sunday afternoon with East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb.
Following the event, Georgia State will return to the course for its final regular season event April 8-9 at the Old Waverly Championships hosted by Mississippi State in West Point, Miss.
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