What you need to know:
* Georgia State held its fifth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting.
* The Panthers won for the seventh time in the last eight games and moved into a tie for second-place in the Sun Belt.
* R.J. Hunter tied a career-high with eight assists, while Markus Crider (21) and Jordan Session (11) each finished with career-highs in points.
* Next game: Saturday against Appalachian State in the GSU Sports Arena at 2 p.m.
ATLANTA - Led by 28 points from junior R.J. Hunter, Georgia State cruised to a 79-51 win over South Alabama on Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena. Junior Markus Crider and freshman Jordan Session each added career highs in points, scoring 21 and 11 points respectively.
Hunter finished the game 9-of-19 from the floor with four 3-pointers and went 6-of-6 from the line. The junior has made 58 of his last 60 free throw attempts. He also tied a career-high with eight assists.
Crider added seven rebounds and three assists, while Session added five boards and a career-high three steals.
Georgia State (18-8, 11-4 Sun Belt) won its third-straight game and for the seventh time in its last eight. The Panthers are 40-11 in their last 51 games dating back to last season and own a 28-5 mark in conference games since returning to the Sun Belt. The squad is off to the third-best start in school history.
The Panthers held their fifth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting as the Jaguars went 12 of 41 from the floor, a 29.3 percent total.
“It was a good win for us as I thought our freshmen played really well tonight,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “I thought we were a little sluggish in the first half, but I was really proud of the way we played in the second half. Our defense was spectacular again which is really helping our offensive production.”
South Alabama (9-18, 7-9 Sun Belt) saw its two-game winning streak snapped despite 19 points from Taishaun Johnson who went 14-of-16 from the line. Johnson and Hunter were teammates at Pike High School in Indianapolis.
Georgia State quickly opened a 24-8 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half, but allowed South Alabama back into the game.
The Jaguars crawled back to trail by just six, 34-28, with 2:00 minutes to play on a pair of free throws by Johnson and trailed by just eight going into the locker room.
Hunter finished the first half with 16 points. With his first two made field goals, he became just the fourth Panther in program history to make 500 field goals.
Leading by nine early in the second half, Georgia State responded with an 8-0 run to build a 49-32 lead with 14:47 to play. South Alabama never got closer than 13 the rest of the game.
Freshman Isaiah Dennis added seven points and four rebounds, while senior Curtis Washington finished with five points and four rebounds for the Panthers. Kevin Ware added four points and five assists for Georgia State which was playing without Ryan Harrow for the third-straight game with concussion-like symptoms.
Reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week Ken Williams was helped to just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting for South Alabama.
Georgia State turned the ball over just five times, while forcing South Alabama into 17 turnovers which led to 27 GSU points.
Georgia State will return to the court and host Appalachian State at 2 p.m. on Saturday. As a reminder to fans, the annual Great Baby Race will be held at halftime of the men's game on Saturday.
