The Georgia State Panthers wanted to break their two-game losing streak Saturday. After losing to Texas State on Thursday night on their home court and losing the top spot in the Sun Belt Conference, a win was important.
The Panthers did just that. They bounced back from a two-game losing streak Saturday on their home court and secured their sixth conference win.
Heading into Saturday’s matchup, Georgia State and UT Arlington were tied for second place behind Texas State in the conference. With the 77-71 win over UTA in the GSU Sports Arena, Georgia State took over second in the conference.
“We needed to win like this, where you had to fight and claw,” Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said. “You don’t need a 20-point win, you need to fight and claw and earn it. And I thought our kids earned it, and earned it without your best player playing.”
The Panthers (15-6, 6-2 Sun Belt) won the series this season with the win after defeating the Mavericks (9-12, 5-3) on Jan. 3 on the road.
Leading 32-39 at halftime, the Panthers hit another scoring drought early in the second half, missing seven consecutive shots, until Devin Mitchell made two free throws at the 16:52 mark.
Hunter attributed the scoring droughts at different points in the game to the use of a bigger lineup. He said they have not played a large number of minutes with that type of lineup.
“I knew offensively it would be kind of a grind for us,” Hunter said. “But I thought defensively we would be better, and we were.”
Meanwhile, the Mavericks took their first lead of the game, at 33-32, on a field goal with 18:41 left in the game. The lead changed three times in the first four minutes of the second half as Georgia State fought to regain the lead.
The game continued in back-and-forth fashion, with UTA holding a lead until a shot by GSU’s Kane Williams with 10:50 to play, and from there Georgia State managed to hold the lead through the remainder of the game.
Georgia State re-established itself in the shooting game in the second half after a shaky first half. The Panthers shot 53 percent on field goal attempts, including 47 percent on 3-pointers, in the second half to finish 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.
Jeff Thomas led the Panthers with 27 points, followed by Williams with 16.
“I was just making shots, but most of it wasn’t me,” Thomas said. “Every time I had a shot they always tried to find me the next play. If I get my feet set, then I’m going to make the shot. All I got to rely on is the players getting me the ball.”
The start of the first half was slow for both teams. In the first five minutes the Panthers shot 28 percent from the field goals and scored four points, while the Mavericks shot 11 percent and scored two.
The Panthers struggled from the 3-point range early on, but Thomas made the first 3-point shot at 14:01. They ended the first half shooting 30 percent in 3-point range.
The Panthers kept the Mavericks in single digits until 8:36 was left in the first half.
Thomas said one of the key components to the Panthers bouncing back from Thursday’s loss to Texas State was how they played defense against UTA. Georgia State held UTA to 38 percent on field goal attempts and 30 percent on 3-pointers, and grabbed 23 defensive rebounds.
“Offense always comes, but defense is where we really got to work on,” Thomas said. “And I think we did really good today.”
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