LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Georgia State used one of its best defensive performances of the year to earn a 68-57 victory over UALR at the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday night. The Panthers extended their school-record win streak to 14 games, tied for the seventh-longest streak in the nation.
Senior Devonta White led the Panthers with 22 points and moved into fifth on Georgia State's all-time scoring list. White went 6-of-11 from the floor and 9-of-12 from the free throw line, pulling down five rebounds.
Sophomore R.J. Hunter, who played only 23 minutes due to foul trouble, added 14 points, while redshirt-junior Ryan Harrow added 13 points and six rebounds.
Georgia State improved to 17-6, 10-0 in the Sun Belt and has won 15 of its last 16 games, the best stretch in program history. The 17 wins are tied for the fifth most in program history while the seven-straight road wins tied the school-record set during the 1999-2000 season. The 10-straight conference wins also tied a school-record set during the 2000-01 season.
UALR fell to 12-11 and 7-4 in the Sun Belt. The Panthers held reigning player of the week Will Neighbour to four points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes.
“Our bench has taken some criticism this year, but I have thought they have done a good job and then really stepped up tonight with some big minutes and big rebounds,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “If it was not for our bench, we do not win this game.
“The sign of a good team is when you don't play well and you win. I thought we got aggressive when our shots were not falling and we hit the boards hard. Our bench gave us great minutes and great production tonight.
Coming out of halftime with a 29-21 lead, UALR used a 10-2 run to tie the game at 31-31.
Georgia State, leading 35-34 with 12:37 to play, responded by holding the Trojans without a field goal for the next 10 minutes, building a 58-43 lead with 2:46 to play. UALR would only get as close as nine with 12-seconds to play.
The two teams were tied five times in the first half and swapped leads four times. The Panthers led 21-19 with 3:15 to play in the opening period before using a 7-0 run to build a 28-19 lead and go into the half leading 29-21.
Georgia State held UALR to just 25-percent shooting in the first half and outrebounded the Trojans 25-19. The Trojans finished the game shooting 36.8-percent from the floor and just 2-of-14 from 3-point range.
With his 14-points, Hunter is now just 15 shy of 1,000 for his career. He finished 4-of-8 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Ryan Harrow is now 31 points shy of 1,000 for his career and Manny Atkins, who scored seven and pulled down six rebounds is just 42 points shy of the mark.
Redshirt-junior Curtis Washington added seven boards of the Panthers 41 rebounds as GSU finished the game with a plus-six rebound margin, its best performance in a conference game this year.
Sophomore T.J. Shipes came off the bench and finished with five rebounds, all on the offensive glass, while Markus Crider and Jaylen Hinton combined to play 27 minutes off the bench. Hinton swiped three steals and also dished out a pair of assists.
James White returned to the line-up for UALR and scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Leroy Isler and Josh Hagins each scored 11 points.
Georgia State will return to the court on Feb. 13, facing Texas State in the Sports Arena at 7 p.m.
