What You Need to Know:
* Little Rock used a late second-half run to earn a 63-53 win over Georgia State on Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
* Freshman Malik Benlevi scored a career-high 10 points, while Kevin Ware added 17 to lead the Panthers.
* Georgia State will return home and host Texas State on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-First place Little Rock used a late second half run to top Georgia State 63-53 on Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center. Three Panthers finished in double figures, including freshman Malik Benlevi who scored a career-high 10 points.
Senior Kevin Ware finished with a team-high 17 points, while redshirt-junior Jeremy Hollowell added 12 for the Panthers.
Georgia State (12-7, 5-5 Sun Belt) led 46-43 with 10:24 to play before Little Rock (19-2, 9-1 Sun Belt) used a 14-0 run and held the Panthers without a basket for more than nine minutes to take a 57-46 with 4:30 to play.
The Panthers have dropped three-straight games for the first time since November 2013.
Little Rock, which entered the night ranked No. 3 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, was led by Josh Hagins who scored 18 points. Roger Woods added 16 points for the Trojans.
“I thought we battled and played well for portions of the game, but when you play a talented team like Little Rock, you have to play great basketball for 40 minutes,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “After the tough loss on Thursday, I liked the way our guys bounced back. Even when we got down by double digits, they didn't gave up and we had our chances.”
Georgia State got off to a quick start, knocking down its first five shots to take an early 12-5 lead as Ware knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.
Little Rock fought back to take a one-point lead, 18-17, before going on a 7-0 run to lead 25-17 midway thru the first half. The Trojans pushed the lead to as many as 13, 32-19, before the Panthers responded with a 7-0 run of its own to trail just 32-26 with 3:30 to play in the opening half.
Little Rock went into the locker room leading the Panthers 37-28, turning seven GSU turnovers in 14 points.
Georgia State scored the first six points of the second half and trailed by just three two minutes in. A pair of Ware free throws with 14:05 to play gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 40-39. On the other end, Georgia State's defense kept Little Rock from scoring as the Trojans missed seven of their first eight shots of the half.
Unfortunately, the Trojans used their late run and made six of their final eight shots to secure the win.
Benlevi scored in double figures for the first time in his career making his first four shots and finished 5-of-8 from the floor, but the Panthers were held to just 39 percent shooting.
Little Rock entered the night as the top defense in the country, allowing just 58.5 points per game. The Trojans held the Panthers to just 39.1 percent shooting and 23.1 percent from 3-point range.
Georgia State will return home and face Texas State next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN3.
