What you need to know:
* Georgia State held its fourth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting.
* Junior R.J. Hunter overtook Shellord Pinkett for the most 3-point attempts in school history and now has 642.
* Georgia State returns home next week to face South Alabama (Feb. 19) and Appalachian State (Feb. 21) in the GSU Sports Arena.
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Georgia State held its fourth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting to earn a 53-41 win over Texas State on Saturday afternoon at Strahan Coliseum. R.J. Hunter led the Panthers with 17 points, while Markus Crider just missed his fourth double-double of the season.
Hunter led the Panthers to their second-straight win and sixth in the last seven games. The junior went 8-of-9 from the free throw line, the miss snapping a streak of 30-straight made early in the first half. It was just eight shy of his school-record of 38-straight made.
Crider finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Senior Curtis Washington added nine points, three rebounds and three blocked shots to move into fifth on GSU's all-time blocked shot list with 111.
Georgia State (17-8, 10-4 Sun Belt) held the Bobcats to just 29.3 shooting to never trail during the game. It was the Panthers 39th win in the last 50 games dating back to last season. Georgia State is 27-5 in conference games since returning to the Sun Belt and the squad is off to the third-best start in program history.
Texas State (11-12, 5-9 Sun Belt) lost its third-straight and for the seventh time in the last eight games. The Panthers revenged an earlier season loss to the Bobcats in Atlanta.
“I am really proud of the way we are playing defensively right now,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “The team has really bought into what we are trying to do on the defensive end and I believe that our length is really disrupting teams. It takes great defense to get to the NCAA tournament and that is what we are doing right now.”
Georgia State held Texas State to just 29.2 percent shooting in the first half and built a 28-12 lead with 4:36 remaining. The Bobcats responded with a 9-1 run over the final four minutes to pull within eight, 29-21 at the break.
Hunter's first two 3-point attempts of the half moved him ahead of Shellord Pinkett's school-record 637 as the junior picked up another GSU career-record. In just 89 games, Hunter also owns the career-scoring, free throws made and free throw percentage records. He is just 10 3-point makes shy of Pinkett's 240 made career total.
Texas State cut the Panthers lead to seven, 33-26, with 15:07 to play, before Georgia State held the Bobcats without a field goal for the next eight minutes and built a 44-32 lead with under eight minutes to play.
Emani Gant led Texas State with 13 points and eight rebounds, but the Bobcats shot just 2-of-15 from 3-point range, while the Panthers went 16-of-18 from the free throw line.
Kevin Ware added four points and five rebounds for the Panthers, while senior Ryann Green chipped in with five points and three boards.
Georgia State played without the services of leading scorer Ryan Harrow for the second-straight game as the senior was recovering from concussion-like symptoms.
Georgia State will return home this week for a pair of games, hosting South Alabama (Feb. 19) and Appalachian State (Feb. 21).
