What you need to know:
* Georgia State held its sixth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting.
* The 44-point margin of victory is the third-largest in school history.
* The Panthers will begin a stretch of three-straight games on the road Thursday before returning home for the regular season finale against Georgia Southern on March 7.
ATLANTA - Led by 22 points from R.J. Hunter and 20 from Ryan Harrow, Georgia State cruised to an 87-43 win over Appalachian State at the GSU Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The 44-point margin of victory is the third-largest in school history, only behind the 61-point season-opening victory over Tennessee-Temple and 45-point win over Piedmont in 1986.
Georgia State (19-8, 12-4 Sun Belt) held its sixth-straight opponent under 30 percent shooting to win for the fourth-straight time and eighth time in the last nine games. The Panthers are 41-11 in their last 52 games dating back to last season and own a 29-5 mark in conference games since returning to the Sun Belt. The squad is off to the third-best start in school history.
Hunter finished 7-of-13 from the floor and knocked down three 3-pointers while going 5-of-5 from the line. He has made 63 of his last 65 free throw attempts. He tied a career-high with eight assists for the second-straight game and added four steals.
The junior has scored 538 points this season and surpassed his freshman total of 527 to move into tenth on the single-season scoring list. He is just 97 points shy of Thomas Terrell's single-season scoring record.
Harrow, who missed the last three games with concussion-like symptoms, went 7-of-9 from the floor with five assists and four rebounds in just 26 minutes.
Junior Markus Crider just missed his fourth double-double of the season adding 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior Curtis Washington pulled down eight boards and blocked three shots. Washington moved into fourth-place on GSU's all-timed blocked shot list with 114.
Appalachian State (9-16, 6-10 Sun Belt) shot just 29.1 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 18 times which led to 35 Panther points.
“I was really happy with the way we started the game defensively,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “Defensively, these guys have bought in and are just flying around on the court. We were a little juiced-up for this game after what happened in Boone earlier this year. Our bench was terrific and I truly believe we are starting to play our best basketball at the right time.”
Georgia State took an early 6-0 lead and led 9-5 before going on an 8-0 run to take a 17-5 lead with 13:05 to play in the first half. Appalachian State would never get closer than nine again in the first half and were never closer than 26 in the second half.
The Panthers held the Mountaineers without a field goal the final 5:08 of the opening half and went into the locker room leading 44-13. Georgia State shot 70 percent in the first half, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
The 13 first-half points scored by Appalachian State was the fewest in a half given up by the Panthers since allowing 13 in the first half to William & Mary in 2011. The Mountaineers shot just 19 percent in the first half and turned the ball over 10 times.
Georgia State finished the game shooting 58.2 percent from the floor and dished out 21 assists on 32 made field goals.
Isaiah Dennis tied a career-high with nine points off the bench for Georgia State while Jalen Brown and Jordan Session each scored five.
Georgia State will begin a stretch of three-straight games on the road at UALR on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Panthers will return home on March 7 for the regular season finale against Georgia Southern.
