When they arrived at GSU Sports Arena on Thursday night, Texas State had a bone to pick with Georgia State.
By capitalizing on 18 consecutive second-half points, the visiting Bobcats (17-3, 6-1 Sun Belt) handed the Panthers (14-6, 5-2) their second consecutive loss, 81-68, while evening the season series at one apiece.
Devin Mitchell led the Panthers with 20 points, and Jeff Thomas chipped in 19 points and seven rebounds. Leading Scorer D’Marcus Simonds scored 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting.
Texas State made 13 3-point shots in the game, led by 27 points, four rebounds and three assists from Tre Nottingham.
“I’ve been through a lot of games,” Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been as disappointed as I am today. And I’m not even talking about the loss. I’m disappointed in my group today.”
Texas State came in with a point to prove and punched Georgia State in the mouth early. The Bobcats made their first four shots from the field, opening the first half with a 10-2 run.
Texas State led until the 5:08 mark when Georgia State’s Thomas splashed in a 3-pointer to take the 30-29 lead. Thomas, wearing the No. 30 jersey, gave a Stephen Curry-esque shoulder shimmy, and the GSU Sports Arena crowd exploded.
Both teams had stretches of beautiful basketball in the first half, using second and third ball reversals to find open looks. Texas State went 6-for-13 from deep in the first period while Georgia State went 8-for-16, including five from Mitchell.
But every time the Panthers made a big shot, the Bobcats responded. The visitors weathered the storm of 3-pointers rained down by the Panthers, and an Alonzo Sule layup at the first-half buzzer tied the score at 42-42 heading to the half.
As the second half began, Texas State was able to continue the frantic pace of the first half while Georgia State went cold. The Bobcats’ largest lead was 8 points multiple times through the first 10:00 of the half. The Panthers force-fed Simonds the ball, resulting in inefficient offense. They shot just 37 percent in the second half, down from 57 percent in the first.
Simonds did his best to keep Georgia State in the game and at the top of the Sun Belt. His old-fashioned three-point play with 8:00 to go in the game cut the Bobcats’ lead to 61-59.
From there, it was all Texas State. The Bobcats went on an 18-0 run over the next six minutes, led by the shooting of Pearson and Peacock. With the lead extended to 79-59 with 2:56 left, Georgia State simply had no way to get back in the game.
Texas State now sits atop the Sun Belt standings at 6-1 in conference. After starting undefeated in its first five conference games, Georgia State is now tied for second with their next opponent, Texas-Arlington, at 5-2.
“Texas State is winning this league right now. For the first time this year, there’s a team above us. It doesn’t matter what your record is, what you’ve done, who you’ve beaten this year. One team in this conference is making the NCAA Tournament, period. Everybody wants that,” Hunter said.
Hunter said his team let itself down by not giving the required effort to win the game. He offered little explanation on what the team did poorly or well on the night, save for one thing.
“What we did great today was make a lot of excuses,” Hunter said.
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