WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.-Georgia State led for more than 30 minutes, but No. 15 Purdue finished the game on a 20-0 run to give the Boilermakers a 64-56 win over the Panthers at Mackey Arena on Friday night in the Cancun Challenge.
In his return to Indiana, senior Jeremy Hollowell finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Hollowell, who grew up in Indianapolis and attended Lawrence Central High School before playing two seasons at Indiana, opened the game red-hot, scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting before the second media timeout.
Georgia State (1-2) led 56-44 with 7:12 to play following a bucket by sophomore Malik Benlevi, quieting a crowd of 14,302. As four Panthers fouled out, Purdue (2-1) was able to take advantage, finishing the game 25-of-37 from the free throw line while Georgia State was just 7-of-11.
Georgia State had been looking to equal the highest-ranked opponent it had ever defeated in program history (St. Joseph's – 2001), but fell to 3-23 all-time against AP Top 25 teams.
“I thought our guys competed hard tonight,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “Unfortunately as the game came to an end, we had four guys sitting on the bench after fouling out, including our two big guys. Regardless of the result, I know that this team is going to fight hard to the end. We are going to win a bunch of games before this season is over.”
Freshman D'Marcus Simonds added 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Panthers.
Purdue was led by Caleb Swanigan who recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Isaac Haas added 11 points, but the 7-2 big man was held without a rebound.
Georgia State held Purdue to just 37.8 percent shooting and 22.7 percent from 3-point range, while outrebounding the bigger Boilermakers 35-26.
As the game opened, Georgia State forced Purdue to miss 11 of its first 14 shots and kept the Boilermakers in check for the entire first half as they shot just 32 percent from the floor and 1-of-10 from 3-point range.
Georgia State went into the half leading 30-27.
The Panthers continued to push the pace in the second half, leading by double-digits on multiple occasions. With the shot clock about to expire with just under 12 minutes to play, Austin Donaldson pushed to the rim to give Georgia State a 51-39 lead.
On nearly three straight possessions, three Panthers followed out the game. Jordan Session was called for his fifth with 10:37 to play, followed by Willie Clayton with 10:24 remaining. Less than a minute later, Isaiah Dennis was called for his fifth with 9:35 to play. Before the game ended, Malik Benlevi also fouled out as Georgia State was called for 31 fouls.
Despite three players fouling out, Georgia State pushed the lead to 13 with 8:13 to play, but from that point were held to just one field goal the rest of the game.
Georgia State will travel to Mexico on Sunday to continue the Cancun Challenge. The Panthers will face NJIT on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. on YouTube Live. Georgia State will conclude the tournament on Wednesday facing Eastern Kentucky or Idaho State.
