Kane Williams
Daniel Wilson

Men's Basketball

Panthers Fall to Troy 84-78

15-game home court winning streak snapped

Box Score ATLANTA-Troy used a late run and came away with an 84-78 win to end Georgia State's 15-game home court winning streak on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.

Troy (9-15, 5-8 Sun Belt) trailed by five with 3:37 to play before using an 8-0 run to take a 79-76 lead with just 35 seconds to play. Georgia State (15-8, 8-4 Sun Belt) had a chance to take the lead with four seconds remaining, but a Justin Roberts jumper was just off the mark.

Georgia State's 15-game home court winning streak was tied for the third-longest in program history and was tied for the 10th-longest in the country entering the day.

The Panthers were led by redshirt-junior Corey Allen who finished with 25 points and seven rebounds, knocking down five 3-pointers. Junior Kane Williams just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, while fellow junior Josh Linder also just missed a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Troy was led by Ty Gordon who scored a team-high 24 points, while Desmond Williams added 23. KJ Simon finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"It's been a rough week for us above and beyond the game itself," head coach Rob Lanier said. "I feel like there has been a cloud over all of us really since the events of last Sunday. As far as the game, we just got outplayed. Even though they were undermanned they shot the ball really well. We knew exactly what they were going to do but we weren't up to the challenge and the task."

Troy took an early five-point lead in part to knocking down six of their first nine shots minutes into the game.

Trailing by two, Roberts knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, the second becoming a four-point play, to take a 25-20 lead with 11:55 to play. It marked the second-straight game Roberts made a four-point play.

Leading 46-45 Troy used a late 6-0 run to take a 52-45 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers with 1:23 to play before the break. The second of those three's was the Trojans 10th of the half.

Troy went into the locker room leading 52-49 following a half that saw seven ties and four lead changes in just the first 20 minutes. Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the floor and combined for 17 3-pointers.

After Troy went ahead by five early in the second half, Georgia State immediately responded with a 7-0 run capped by an Allen 3-pointer to take a 56-54 lead with 17:36 to play.

Both teams started to cool from the floor at the midpoint of the second half before another Allen 3-pointer gave Georgia State a 68-65 lead. It was the start of a 7-0 run capped by a Williams lay-up that gave the Panthers a 72-65 lead with 5:09 remaining.

Troy immediately responded and tied the game at 74 just two and a half minutes later as a part of the 8-0 run.

Troy finished the game knocking down 14 3-pointers and shot 46.0 percent from the floor. The Panthers were held to just 39.5 percent shooting and 9-of-34 from 3-point range.

Redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts added 14 points for the Panthers, while Davion Thomas came off the bench to score 13 for Troy.

Notes:
  • Georgia State leads the all-time series with Troy 20-19.
  • Troy has won eight of the last 11 meetings with the Panthers.
  • With a 3-pointer tonight, Georgia State has made at least one 3-pointer in 771 games dating back to Feb. 18, 1995.
  • Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won 149 games, the most of any NCAA Division 1 program in the state of Georgia.
Georgia State will return to the road to face rival Louisiana on Thursday in Lafayette at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on WRAS-FM 88.5.
 
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Players Mentioned

Corey Allen

#11 Corey Allen

G
6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
Josh Linder

#20 Josh Linder

F
6' 8"
Junior
Justin Roberts

#2 Justin Roberts

G
5' 11"
Redshirt Sophomore
Kane Williams

#12 Kane Williams

G
6' 3"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Corey Allen

#11 Corey Allen

6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
G
Josh Linder

#20 Josh Linder

6' 8"
Junior
F
Justin Roberts

#2 Justin Roberts

5' 11"
Redshirt Sophomore
G
Kane Williams

#12 Kane Williams

6' 3"
Junior
G