What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State won for the sixth-straight time with an 83-80 win over South Alabama on Monday night at the Mitchell Center.
* Senior Isaiah Dennis knocked down two free throws with three seconds to play to secure the win.
* Freshman D'Marcus Simonds scored 21 points on 8-of-9 field goals and has now scored 21 or more in four of the last five games.
MOBILE, Ala.-Georgia State made its free throws down the stretch and survived a thriller at the Mitchell Center to earn an 83-80 win over South Alabama on Monday night.
Georgia State (14-7, 7-2 Sun Belt) made six-straight free throws in the final 26 seconds, capped by a pair from senior Isaiah Dennis, to win for the six-straight time and move into a tie for first place atop the Sun Belt standings at the mid-point of conference play.
Freshman D'Marcus Simonds finished with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, dished out five assists and swiped three steals after being named College Sports Madness National Mid-Major Player of the Week on Monday. He has scored 21 or more in four of the last five games.
Senior Jeremy Hollowell added 20 points, five rebounds and four assists, including a bank-in 3-pointer with 45 seconds to play that put the Panthers ahead by three.
South Alabama (10-12, 3-6) had a chance to tie it at the end, but a 3-pointer by Ken Williams was off the mark. The senior finished with 21 points, including three 3-pointers.
“Winning on the road in conference is really hard,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “I'm really proud of our guys because we are starting to win games in all different kinds of ways. We are shooting the ball now at a really high percentage. We turned the ball over too many times tonight, but our seniors stepped up and made shots when we needed them to.”
After leading throughout the game, South Alabama started to chip into Georgia State's lead in the middle of the second half. The Jaguars cut the lead to four, 46-42, with 13:14 to play before a Simonds lay-up put Georgia State back up six.
South Alabama cut the lead to three multiple times before finally tying the game 68-68 with 3:51 to play. The Panthers pushed the lead back to five before the Jaguars tied the game 73-73 with 1:11 remaining.
After Hollowell's 3-pointer and a free throw by Jeff Thomas gave Georgia State a 77-73 lead with 25 seconds to play, Ken Williams would make jumpers on back-to-back possessions and then a 3-pointer, but the Panthers responded each time down the court with a pair of free throws to secure the win.
Georgia State controlled the game early. After South Alabama made the first basket of the game, the Panthers responded with an 8-0 run, including two 3-pointers by Hollowell, to take an 8-2 lead with 17:48 to play.
The Panthers started the game making six of their first seven shots to push the lead to 14-10. Leading 21-16, Georgia State went on an 11-0 run to double the Jaguars up, 32-16, with 5:33 to play in the first half.
South Alabama responded with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 32-25 with 4:06 to play, but the Panthers went into the locker room leading 39-28 due in part to 60.9 percent shooting in the first half.
Sophomore Malik Benlevi and Thomas each scored nine points for the Panthers who went 9-of-19 from 3-point range and shot 59.1 percent from the floor for the game.
Josh Ajayi scored 13 points for South Alabama, while Georgi Boyanov added nine points and eight rebounds.
Georgia State will return home to face Louisiana on Saturday in the GSU Sports Arena at 2:15 p.m. live on WatchESPN. Tickets can be purchased by calling 404-413-4020 or by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com/Tix.
