Panthers Sweep Troy with 65-53 Saturday Win

Box Score ATLANTA-Jalen Thomas was nearly perfect from the floor and Georgia State forced Troy into 23 turnovers leading to a 65-53 win on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.

Thomas, who finished with a career-high for a second-straight night, scored 16 points going 6-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line, while pulling down five rebounds.

Georgia State (11-5, 5-4 Sun Belt) won for the third-straight time while sweeping two games from Troy (10-14, 4-10 Sun Belt) which lost for the fifth-straight time. The win moved the Panthers into second place in the Sun Belt Conference East Division standings with three games to play. Georgia State is two games behind first-place South Alabama. The two teams will close the regular season with a series in Mobile next Friday and Saturday.

Junior Justin Roberts just missed a double-double for a second-straight night scoring 13 points and dishing out nine assists, the same number as he did less than 24 hours ago in a 14-point win over the Trojans.

Senior Corey Allen tied Thomas for the team lead with 16 points, knocking down three 3-pointers while fellow senior Kane Williams added 12 points, also knocking down three 3-pointers.

Troy was led by Kam Woods who scored 15 points, while Nick Stampley came up just shy of a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Georgia State got off to a quick start knocking down three quick 3-pointers, including two by Allen, causing Troy to call timeout just over four minutes into the game. The Panthers pushed the lead to 11-0 before the Trojans finally got on the board.

Troy cut the deficit to six, with 12:04 to play in the opening half, but that is the closest the Trojans would get in the first 20 minutes.

A Ryan Boyce jumper allowed Georgia State to have Troy doubled-up, 26-13, with 6:12 to play. Minutes later the Panthers used a 7-0 run capped by a Roberts 3-pointer to build a 33-18 lead with just under two minutes to play.

The Panthers went into the locker room leading 33-21 after forcing Troy into 15 turnovers, while going 7-of-15 from 3-point range.

Thomas scored the first 10 points of the second half for the Panthers as GSU pushed the lead to as many as 17, 43-26, with 15:20 to play.

Troy immediately responded with a 12-1 run, cutting Georgia State's lead to just 44-38, with 12:15 remaining, causing head coach Rob Lanier to call his first timeout of the game.

Fortunately, the Panthers responded with a 10-2 run to go back ahead by double figures before cruising to the 12 point win.

Game Highlights
• Georgia State increased its conference-leading win total to 94 games since returning to the Sun Belt Conference the 2013-14 season.
• Georgia State now leads the all-time series with Troy 22-19.
• With his first basket, senior Kane Williams moved ahead of Ryan Harrow and into 16^th place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list with 1,145 points.
• Georgia State turned Troy's 23 turnovers into 25 points.
• Since returning to the Sun Belt in 2013-14, Georgia State has finished in the top two of the final regular season conference standings five times in seven seasons.
• During that same time, GSU has won more games (164) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.

Georgia State will remain at home and host Appalachian State at the GSU Sports Arena on Tuesday (5 p.m.), live on ESPN+, the GSU Mobile App, and TuneIn Radio.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Corey Allen: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#32 Ryan Boyce: G; 6' 6"; Sophomore

#2 Justin Roberts: G; 6' 0"; Junior

#25 Jalen Thomas: F; 6' 10"; Sophomore

#12 Kane Williams: G; 6' 4"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#11 Corey Allen
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#32 Ryan Boyce
: 6' 6"; Sophomore
: G

#2 Justin Roberts
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

#25 Jalen Thomas
: 6' 10"; Sophomore
: F

#12 Kane Williams
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G