What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State fell to Old Dominion 58-46 on Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Center.
* Redshirt-sophomore Devin Mitchell led the Panthers with 11 points.
* The Panthers shot just 28.6 percent in the first half while turning the ball over 12 times which led to a 17 points deficit going into the locker room.
NORFOLK, Va.-Georgia State could not overcome a tough first half as the Panthers fell to Old Dominion 58-46 on Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Center. Devin Mitchell led the Panthers with 11 points.
Georgia State (6-4) shot just 29 percent from the floor in the opening half, turning the ball over 12 times which led to 13 Monarch points. The Panthers outscored Old Dominion (6-4) by five in the second half, but could not overcome a 17-point halftime deficit.
Senior Willie Clayton added eight points and seven rebounds for the Panthers, while senior Jeremy Hollowell also scored eight.
The Monarchs were led by Ahmad Caver who scored 16 points, knocking down four 3-pointers and grabbing six rebounds.
“Tip your cap to Old Dominion as they played hard and took us out of our game,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We played sloppy in the first half and turned the ball over too many times which led to some easy baskets for them. We cleaned things up in the second half, but it is tough to overcome a 17-point deficit.”
Georgia State, which was playing its 12th game against a Conference USA opponent in the last three-plus seasons, and fell to 7-5 in those match-ups.
As both teams started the game with cold shooting, Old Dominion took an early 10-3 lead with 15:01 to play before back-to-back 3-pointers by Georgia State cut the deficit to one.
The Monarchs immediately responded with an 8-0 run to take an 18-9 lead with 7:59 remaining in the open half. Old Dominion went into the locker room with a 36-19 lead as the Panthers made just one two-point field goal in the first 20 minutes.
Georgia State shot just 29 percent from the floor in the first half, but hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
Coming out of the locker room, the Panthers held Old Dominion scoreless for the five 5:55 of the second half, but were only able to score five points.
A 3-pointer by Mitchell cut Old Dominion's lead to 46-36 with 9:53 to play, but the Panthers were never able to cut the deficit to single digits in the second half.
Freshman D'Marcus Simonds added six points, five rebounds and four assists for the Panthers.
Denzell Taylor added six points and eight rebounds for Old Dominion, while Randy Haynes added 10 points.
Neither team finished the game shooting 40 percent, as ODU shot 38.5 percent to Georgia State's 37.3 percent. The Panthers were outrebounded 36-28.
Georgia State continues a two-game Conference USA road trip in Murfreesboro, Tenn., facing Middle Tennessee on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. It will mark the final non-conference road game of the season.
