Georgia State rode a comfortable lead into the final minutes of its matchup Thursday night against Arkansas State and held on for a 76-60 victory at the GSU Sports Arena.
The victory keeps Georgia State in the thick of the race to secure a spot in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, with two games to play.
“For whatever reason, these guys seem to play better with their backs against the wall,” coach Ron Hunter said. “And right now we are, so we’ve got to keep winning and see what happens.”
The Panthers will finish the regular season with games against Arkansas-Little Rock at 1 p.m. Saturday and at Georgia Southern at 5 p.m. March 9.
The Panthers are tied with Georgia Southern for second place in the Sun Belt standings, one game behind Texas State. The top two seeds in the tournament begin play in the semifinals.
The Panthers (20-9, 11-5 Sun Belt) led the Red Wolves (12-16, 6-9) by as many as 23 points in the second half, 66-43 with eight minutes to play in the game.
“Defensively we were really, really solid, and that’s what we’ve got to be, that’s what I told them,” Hunter said. “I thought today, for the first time probably in about a month and a half, that we looked like an NCAA tournament team defensively.”
Jeff Thomas led the Panthers with 15 points and four rebounds, followed by D’Marcus Simonds with 14 points and two rebounds. Georgia State had five players in double-digit points.
“We knew we just had to come out aggressive,” Thomas said. “If we came out aggressive they really couldn’t score, and that’s what happened.”
Georgia State, which led 37-29 at halftime after trailing by as many seven points, are 18-0 this season when leading at the half.
“We have been such a great second-half team,” Hunter said. “For that reason we play our butts off in the second half, offensively, defensively.”
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