What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State cruised to a 111-69 win over Thomas in the regular season opener on Friday night.
* Senior Willie Clayton picked up his 18th career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
* The Panthers will return to action on Monday night facing Auburn at 9 p.m. ET. The game can be seen live on the SEC Network.
ATLANTA-Led by a double-double from Willie Clayton and 23 points from Jeremy Hollowell, Georgia State cruised to a 111-69 win over Thomas on Friday night in the regular season opener at the GSU Sports Arena.
Clayton nearly picked up his 18th career double-double in the first half before finishing with 11 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots in 26 minutes. He shot 5-of-6 from the floor and added two steals.
The Panthers finished the game with 13 blocked shots, just one shy of the school-record of 14 set against FIU on Dec. 1, 2011. The 42-point margin of victory is the sixth-most in school history.
Hollowell played 19 minutes, making 11-of-12 free throws and a pair of 3-pointers. He and Clayton were two of five Panthers to finish in double figures as Jeff Thomas came off the bench to score 17, while freshman D'Marcus Simonds added 11 and sophomore Austin Donaldson scored 10.
Georgia State (1-0) improved to 6-0 in regular season openers under head coach Ron Hunter. The sixth year coach now has 104 wins at Georgia State and moved ahead of Charles “Lefty” Driesell and into second on the GSU's all-time win list. He is now just three shy of Bob Reinhart's school-record of 107 wins.
The Panthers scored 100 points or more for the first time in just under two years. Georgia State last crossed the century mark with 115 points against Tennessee Temple on Nov. 14, 2014. GSU improved to 27-4 all-time when scoring more than 100 points.
“I'm glad to get our first win of the season,” Hunter said. “I thought other than the first four minutes of the game, we defended well and played the style of basketball that we want to play. I thought Isaiah Dennis and that group that opened the second half really got us going defensively and when we play the type of defensive that we can, we can be really good.”
Defensively, the Panthers finished 16 steals, just one shy of the top 10 for a single-game in school history, while forcing Thomas into 25 turnovers which led to 37 points. Donaldson and Simonds each swiped three steals for the Panthers.
After a slow start in which Thomas took an early 13-11 lead as Javoris Cooks knocked down three 3-pointers, Georgia State used a 9-0 run to take a 20-13 lead with 10:51 to play.
Cooks finished the game with 24 points for the Night Hawks, making six 3-pointers. Traevon Graham came off the bench to add 12 points.
Minutes later, the Panthers used a 7-0 run to take a 32-19 lead with 7:17 remaining and never looked back. Georgia State went into the half leading 57-32 after using an 11-0 run with just under two minutes to play.
Making their Georgia State debuts, redshirt-sophomore Devin Mitchell and senior Justin Seymour each scored eight points, while sophomore Malik Benlevi also scored eight.
All 14 Georgia State players saw action as the Panthers shot 51.5 percent from the floor and held Thomas to just 31.1 percent shooting. Georgia State's bench finished with 53 points.
Georgia State will return to action on Monday night traveling just across the state line to face Auburn at 9 p.m. The game will air live on the SEC Network and WatchESPN. It marks the first of four games as a part of the Cancun Challenge which will send the Panthers to Mexico during Thanksgiving week.
