ATLANTA - D'Marcus Simonds scored the game-winner with 0.9 seconds left and Georgia State hung on to defeat UL Monroe 74-73 Saturday at GSU Sports Arena.

Georgia State (13-4, 4-0 Sun Belt) led by as many as 21 in the second half, but ULM (9-7, 2-2 Sun Belt) went on a 32-10 run to take a one-point lead with 5.5 seconds remaining. Following a GSU timeout, Simonds got the ball off the inbound and drove into the lane, laying it in and avoiding the upset.

Simonds led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting, while senior Devin Mitchell continued his hot hand with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Mitchell has knocked down 35 3-pointers in the last nine games after missing the first seven games due to injury.

Georgia State has now won six straight and eight of nine while remaining undefeated at home this season (7-0). The Panthers have now won 17-straight games in January dating back to 2017.

J.D Williams led the way for UL Monroe with 19 points while Michael Ertel added 18. Travis Munnings finished with a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.

“Well that was interesting,” said head coach Ron Hunter. “I told our guys there are certain teams in the league that may get down 20 points and quit – ULM is not one of those teams. When you are wearing a bulls-eye as the best team in the league, you are going to get everyone's best shot and that was the case once again today. We can't relax, but I thought when we got up big we did relax and it almost cost us.”

Simonds came out aggressive from the start, scoring 14 first-half points on 6-for-11 from the field. The Panthers held UL Monroe to 24.1 percent shooting and took a 39-28 lead into halftime.

Georgia State built a 21-point lead in the second half behind Mitchell, who led the charge in the half for the Panthers. But ULM would slowly chip away, cutting it to five with 2:29 left in the game.

J.D. Williams scored on two straight possessions for the Warhawks, cutting the lead to one after consecutive misses by the Panthers.

After a missed free-throw by Mitchell, Smith scored to give UL Monroe its first lead of the half with 5.5 seconds remaining before Simonds went the length of the court for the game-winner.

Malik Benlevi added nine points for the Panthers, and Jeff Thomas and Kane Williams finished with seven apiece.

Mitchell moved into sixth place in program history with 167 3-pointers made, passing Anton Reese and tying with Leonard Mendez. Thomas and Benlevi have now been a part of 73 wins at Georgia State just one shy of Devonta White and Rashaad Richardson for eighth-most in a four-year stretch in program history.

Freshman Nelson Phillips came off the bench to grab eight rebounds. ULM finished the game going 21-of-23 from the free throw line.

Notes:

• Georgia State is 4-0 in conference play for the first time since 2013-14 when the Panthers started Sun Belt play 10-0.
• Since head coach Ron Hunter's arrival, the Panthers are 12-3 against schools from Louisiana in the GSU Sports Arena.
• Georgia State's 13-4 start to the season is tied for the second-best 17-game start in program history.
• Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won more games (123) than any other NCAA Division I team in the state of Georgia.
• Georgia State's last lost in the month of January came at home against Troy on Jan. 9, 2017.

Georgia State will return to the road to face South Alabama on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET live on ESPN+.