What You Need to Know:
* Georgia Southern used a big second-half opening run to earn an 88-65 win over Georgia State in the Sun Belt opener on Saturday.
* Senior Jeremy Hollowell led the Panthers with 21 points and seven rebounds.
* Georgia State will return to action on Jan. 7 facing South Alabama in the GSU Sports Arena at 2:15 p.m. live on ESPN3.
STATESBORO, Ga.-Georgia Southern opened the second half with a big run to cruise to an 88-65 win over Georgia State on Saturday afternoon in the Sun Belt opener for both schools.
Senior Jeremy Hollowell led Georgia State (7-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) with 21 points and seven rebounds, while junior Jordan Session picked up a career-high 13 rebounds.
Georgia Southern (8-6, 1-0 Sun Belt) was led by Tookie Brown who scored 29 points, knocking down 9-of-10 from the floor. Ike Smith added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles.
“Not much went right for us today,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “Give Georgia Southern a lot of credit, they played very well and forced us to turn the ball over way too many times. This is a resilient group and we will get back to Atlanta and get prepared for a home game next week.”
After leading by seven at the half, Georgia Southern opened the second half knocking down seven-straight 3-point attempts as part of a 25-7 run that gave the Eagles a 61-36 lead just under five minutes into the second half.
Georgia State would trail by as many as 30 with 12:30 to play shooting 32.9 percent for the game and making just 6-of-30 from 3-point range.
Sophomore Jeff Thomas added 11 points and six rebounds for the Panthers. Malik Benlevi, playing in front of family and friends from nearby Savannah scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out with 11:45 to play.
Georgia State took an early 11-6 lead knocking down 5-of-6 from the floor. Georgia Southern responded with an 8-0 run to take a 14-11 lead with 12:23 to play and never trail again.
Pushing the run to 13-2, the Eagles led 19-13 with 9:50 to play while Georgia State missed 14-of-15 from the floor. Despite the run and cold shooting, when Hollowell knocked down a jumper with 6:50 to play, the Panthers trailed just 21-19.
Georgia Southern took its biggest lead of the half, 30-22, with 2:17 to play and went into the locker room leading 36-29 as the Panthers shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 13 times.
Mike Hughes added 12 points for Georgia Southern which shot 54.7 percent for the game, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range in the second half.
Georgia State did manage to outrebound the in-state rivals 51-31, including a 24-5 edge on the offensive glass.
Georgia State will have a week off before the Sun Belt home opener against South Alabama on Jan. 7, at 2:15 p.m. live on ESPN3. Tickets can be purchased by calling 404-413-4020 or by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com.
