What You Need to Know:
* Despite a career-high 21 points from Jeff Thomas who knocked down seven 3-pointers, Georgia State fell to UT Arlington 85-70 on Wednesday night.
* The Mavericks knocked down 11 3-pointers as Kevin Hervey led UTA with 17 points and eight rebounds.
* Georgia State lost for just the seventh time in 39 conference games since returning to the Sun Belt just over two seasons ago.
ARLINGTON, Texas-Despite a career-high 21 points and seven 3-pointers from redshirt-freshman Jeff Thomas, Georgia State fell to UT Arlington 85-70 on Wednesday night at the College Park Center.
UT Arlington (10-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) knocked down 11 3-pointers and had four players in double figures, led by sophomore Kevin Hervey who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Georgia State (7-3, 0-1 Sun Belt) saw its four-game winning streak come to an end as the Panthers lost just its seventh conference game since returning to the Sun Belt more than two years ago. It also marked just the 16th lost in the last 70 games dating back to Dec. 14, 2013.
Thomas finished 7-of-12 from 3-point range in 20 minutes off the bench, with six of his 3-pointers coming in the second half. The seven makes are tied for the eighth-most in a single game in program history.
Senior Kevin Ware added 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, while senior Markus Crider added 10. Redshirt-junior Jeremy Hollowell was held to just three points and seven rebounds.
UT Arlington, which came into the game No. 36 in the latest NCAA RPI, got 15 points from Jalen Jones, 11 from Kaelon Wilson and 10 from Erick Neal.
“At the end of the night, you tip your cap to UT Arlington as they played a very good game,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “The thing we know is that this was just one game and there are still 19 conference games to play. This is a resilient team that I know will bounce back on Saturday.”
With the game tied 8-8 with 15:34 to play in the first half, Georgia State used a 7-0 run to take an early 15-8 lead with 11:27 left.
Leading 21-14 with 8:13 to play in the opening half, UT Arlington responded with a 14-0 run to take a 28-21 lead with a little over four minutes to play before senior T.J. Shipes knocked down a pair of free throws. Shipes finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Despite holding Hervey without a point the first 12 minutes, the Mavericks went into the locker room leading 36-29.
Georgia State opened the second half hot and cut the deficit to two with 18:14 to play, but that was as close as the Panthers would get. UT Arlington pushed the lead into double figures with 13:21 to play and it remained there the rest of the game.
The Panthers were held to 40.3 percent shooting, but went 8-of-20 from 3-point range.
Georgia State will remain in Texas for New Year's Eve while traveling to San Marcos to face Texas State on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. ET. The Panthers open the home portion of the conference schedule on Jan. 7 facing Troy.
Notes: Kevin Ware extended his consecutive free throws made streak to 24 . . . UT Arlington earned its first win over Georgia State in five Sun Belt match-ups . . . The Mavericks outrebounded the Panthers 45-29.
