What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State earned a 70-55 win over South Alabama on Saturday afternoon to improve to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the Sun Belt.
* Redshirt-junior Jeremy Hollowell led the Panthers with 23 points, while Kevin Ware finished just a point shy of a career-high with 20 in the win.
* Georgia State won its 14th straight home game and improved to 32-1 in the GSU Sports Arena since the start of the 2013-14 season.
ATLANTA-Led by 23 points from Jeremy Hollowell and 20 from Kevin Ware, Georgia State earned a 70-55 win over South Alabama on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena. The Panthers extended their home court winning streak to 14 games and picked up their sixth-straight win over the Jaguars.
Hollowell scored 20-plus for the second-straight game, going 7-of-15 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers and a perfect 7-of-7 free throws. Ware finished one point shy of a career-high, knocking down three 3-pointers for the second straight game. Prior to Thursday night, Ware had made two 3-pointers all season. He added five rebounds, three assists and went 7-of-8 at the free throw line.
Georgia State (10-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) is off to its second-best start in program history and improved to 35-7 in Sun Belt games since returning to the league before the start of the 2013-14 season. Since that time, the Panthers are 32-1 at home and improved to 57-16 in their last 73 games dating back to Dec. 14, 2013.
Georgi Boyanov led South Alabama (6-9, 1-3 Sun Belt) with 16 points and nine rebounds, but the Jaguars were held to just 2-of-17 shooting from 3-point range and became the Panthers ninth opponent to be held under 40 percent shooting this year (39.6 percent).
“We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish this weekend in winning two games,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We know that to be a championship team we have to win at home. I thought for the most part our defense was really good. I see us getting better because I see our offense coming around, but we still have some work to do to get where we want to be.”
Georgia State started slow, making just four of its first 15 shots as South Alabama took an early 15-14 lead. The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a Hollowell lay-up, to retake the lead 22-15 with 7:23 remaining in the first half.
The Jaguars immediately responded with a 7-0 run to take a 24-23 lead before the Panthers offense got clicking, going on a 10-0 run to lead 33-24 with 3:02 to play.
Georgia State went into the locker room with a 38-28 lead as Ware finished the opening half with 13, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Panthers held the lead despite shooting 37.9 percent from the floor, however, holding South Alabama to just 36.7 shooting and 1-of-9 from 3-point range.
Opening the second half with a 10 point lead, Georgia State never allowed South Alabama to cut it to single digits and pushed it to as many as 17 on a pair of Isaiah Williams free throws with 1:37 to play.
Williams finished with nine points while junior Isaiah Dennis dished out a career-high seven assists.
Senior T.J. Shipes pulled down eight rebounds for a third consecutive game and senior Markus Crider added six points and eight rebounds off the bench. The duo won their 75th game, now the fourth-most in a career in Georgia State history.
Georgia State held all-conference guard Ken Williams to just seven points while Nick Stover was the only other Jaguar in double figures, finishing with 12.
Georgia State will continue its five-game home-stand facing UL Monroe on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will serve as coach Hunter's annual 'Barefoot for Bare Feet' game to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet. Tickets for that game are available by calling 404-413-4020 or by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com.
