Damon Wilson
Mandela Jones
72
Winner Georgia St. GSU 13-6,6-2 Sun Belt
63
South Alabama USA 11-8,4-4 Sun Belt
Winner
Georgia St. GSU
13-6,6-2 Sun Belt
72
Final
63
South Alabama USA
11-8,4-4 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Georgia St. GSU 37 35 72
South Alabama USA 33 30 63

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Panthers Hit 15 3-Pointers to Top South Alabama 72-63

MOBILE, Ala.-Georgia State knocked down 15 3-pointers and used a late second half run to earn a 72-63 win over South Alabama on Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

Georgia State (13-6, 6-2 Sun Belt) trailed by six with 12:21 to play but used a 19-4 run over a stretch of 7:16 to go ahead by nine and not look back.

Redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts led the Panthers with 20 points going 6-of-11 from 3-point range while also pulling down six rebounds.

Senior Damon Wilson added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists as the Panthers won for a third-straight time. The 15 3-pointers are tied for the ninth-most in a single-game in program history.

South Alabama (11-8, 4-4 Sun Belt) dropped its 12th decision in its last 14 games to the Panthers despite a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds from Josh Ajayi.

"It's always important to make shots and we did that tonight, but I really thought it was important for us to get the win," head coach Rob Lanier said. "We have been in some close road games lately that didn't go our way and we didn't handle adversity well. I thought tonight we faced some adversity and we did a great job overcoming it with contributions from a lot of different guys."

South Alabama took a quick 6-0 lead just a minute into the game, but on a 3-pointer by Corey Allen the Panthers tied the game 10-10 just 5:23 into the game.

Trailing by three, the Jaguars used a 6-0 run late in the half to take a 28-25 lead with 6:04 remaining. The Panthers immediately responded and on Roberts' third 3-pointer regained the lead 30-28 with 5:07 to play.

Georgia State later used a 7-0 run while holding South Alabama scoreless for three-plus minutes to take a 37-32 lead with just under two minutes to play.

Georgia State went into the locker room leading 37-33 after hitting eight 3-pointers and forcing South Alabama into 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

The Jaguars came out hot in the second half scoring 13 of the first 16 points and making their first five shot attempts to go ahead 46-40 five minutes into the half.

Trailing by six later in the half, Georgia State responded with a 9-0 run hitting three-straight 3-pointers to go ahead 51-48 with 10 minutes to play.

The run would be pushed to 19-4 and put the Panthers ahead 61-52 following a Josh Linder dunk with 4:10 to play. The Jaguars would get no closer than seven points the rest of the night.

Junior Kane Williams added 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists, while Allen finished with 11 points.

John Pettway added 15 points and five rebounds for the Jaguars while Chad Lott just missed a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds.

South Alabama outscored Georgia State 38-14 in the paint but went just 2-of-6 from 3-point range and 15-of-24 from the free throw line.

Notes:
  • Georgia State's 13-6 start is tied for the third-best start in program history.
  • Since the start of 2017, the Panthers have compiled a 24-5 mark in the month of January.
  • Georgia State improved to 16-15 all-time against South Alabama.
  • Georgia State, the back-to-back defending Sun Belt Conference tournament champions have compiled an 84-36 league record since rejoining the league in 2013-14.
  • Redshirt-junior Chris Clerkley has been a part of 81 wins in a GSU uniform. He is just seven wins shy of being a part of the winningest four-year stretch in program history.
  • With a 3-pointer tonight, Georgia State has made at least one 3-pointer in 767 games dating back to Feb. 18, 1995.
  • Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won 147 games, the most of any NCAA Division 1 program in the state of Georgia.
Georgia State will remain on the road and face Troy on Saturday. Tip is set for 3 p.m. ET at Trojan Arena and can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on the GSU Mobile App.
 
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