PENSACOLA -- Georgia State fell to hot-shooting Marshall 86-74 in the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Basketball Championship Thursday at the Pensacola Bay Center.

The loss ends the Panthers' season at 14-17, while No. 10 seed Marshall (13-19) advances to face No. 2 seed James Madison in Saturday's quarterfinals.

Lucas Taylor scored 20 points for No. 7 seeded Georgia State. Toneari Lane added 19 points, and Leslie Nkereuwem scored a season-high 17 points, along with seven rebounds and three steals.

But the Panthers could not contain Marshall's perimeter tandem of Kamdyn Curfman and Kevon Voyles, who combined for 60 points. Curfman went 9-for-12 from 3-point range for 30 points, while Voyles also scored 30 with four 3-pointers.

Playing Marshall for the second time in seven days after winning 82-79 last Friday, Georgia State fell behind 17-3 in the first five minutes. But the Panthers used a 19-3 run, including 12 straight points to take a 22-21 lead on Nkereuwem's putback with 7:28 to play in the first half. 

Another Nkereuwem bucket put the Panthers up 29-26 with 4:20 left in the half before Marshall took a 41-36 lead into the locker room.

Early in the second half, Georgia State scored seven straight points, finished off by Lane's jumper, to pull within 44-43 with 18:33 to go. The Panthers still trailed by just one at 50-49 with 16 minutes left when Marshall scored 13 of the next 16 to pull ahead 63-52 with 11:53 to play.

"Marshall came out and played with a level of desperation, and we got caught back on our heels," head coach Jonas Hayes said. "I didn't ever feel like our guys gave up, but it just was no where near enough tonight. We had no answer for [Voyles] and [Curfman]. They made a lot of tough shots."

Georgia State went 10-for-19 from 3-point range, including four each by Taylor and Lane, but the Panthers hurt themselves with an uncharacteristic 12-for-21 performance at the free throw line after leading the Sun Belt in that category.