ATLANTA – Jamaine Mann scored a career-high 19 points, and Brenden Tucker and Evan Johnson shined in their return from injury as Georgia State dominated Middle Georgia 79-53 on Thursday night at the GSU Convocation Center.

Mann erupted for 15 of his 19 points in the second half to top his previous career-high of 18 set as a freshman at Gardner-Webb in 2021.  The sophomore from Hampton shot 6-of-11 from the field while tallying three blocks and grabbed 10 rebounds to record his third career double-double.

Playing for the first time since November 18, both Tucker and Johnson were both magnificent in their return from injuries sustained against Eastern Kentucky.  Tucker scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting with six rebounds, and Johnson scored 14 points of the bench on 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 from three while dishing out five assists.

The highlight of their night came when both players connected on an alley-oop dunk with 6:27 left in the first half.  Jamaine Mann grabbed a rebound and threw the ball to Johnson on a fast break.  The sophomore from Durham, N.C. then threw a lob pass to Tucker, who grabbed the ball in front of the rim with one hand in mid-air and slammed it home to put the Panthers up by 11.

Danny Stubbs scored 10 points in his second start of the season, and Ja'Heim Hudson just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds with two blocks.

Georgia State (5-3) trailed 14-10 with 10:55 left in the first half when Ja'Heim Hudson dunked on a fast break, sparking a 15-0 run capped by Tucker's alley-oop jam to give the Panthers the lead for good.

Up 38-25 at the halftime, the Panthers scored eight of nine points to open the second and push their lead to 20 and led by as many as 27 in the half.

GSU settled in after missing their first six shots and shot 47.6 percent (30-for-63) from the field and held Middle Georgia to 28.3 percent shooting and 25 percent from three while outrebounding the Knights 52-28. 

The Panthers finished with nine three-pointers after heating up and shooting 6-of-14 from three in the second half.

GSU will play their first road game of the season on Sunday, December 4 at Northeastern.  Tipoff is at 2 p.m.