Georgia State got a career-high 22 points from sophomore Justin Roberts and shook off a bit of holiday rust to rout Middle Georgia State 83-53 on Monday at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers (9-5) had not played since losing on the road to SMU last Monday. The victory was their 12th straight at home, the fourth-best streak in school history. It was Georgia State’s ninth straight win over a team from Georgia and third of the season.
“Our energy level wasn’t what it has been,” Georgia State coach Rob Lanier said. “One of the things I’ve come to expect and admire about this group is that we’ve been a pretty high energy group as a team. We didn’t necessarily have that spark today, but we did some good things.”
Roberts, a 5-foot-11 guard from Indianapolis was 8-for-14 from the field, three of them 3-pointers, and added nine rebounds and seven assists – both career highs.
“The nine rebounds … you know, he stuck in nose in there and got some boards,” Lanier said.
Damon Wilson scored 13, Corey Allen scored 12 points and Kane Williams added 10 points and five assists for Georgia State.
Middle Georgia was worn down by Georgia State’s non-stop man-to-man defense. The Knights (6-6) shot only 26 percent from the field, well below its season average of 44.3 percent, and were held far below their average of 80.3 points. The Knights finished 0-for-17 on 3-pointers.
“We picked up our defensive energy, we turned them over a little bit, we converted and made some shots and we wound up getting some separation,” Lanier said. “We are still very much a work in progress.”
Middle Georgia got 18 points from Stone Mountain’s Michael Graham, the team’s only player in double figures. De’Miria Glover had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Middle Georgia hung around early thanks to some scrappy play and twice held a five-point lead, the latest at 12:59 on a basket by Cooper that made it 18-13.
“The game started out pretty much the way we had expected it would start out if we came out with a lack of energy that they would capitalize on whatever mistakes we made,” Lanier said.
But that’s when Georgia State began its charge, starting with a 7-0 streak that included back-to-back dunks by Josh Linder that gave the Panthers a 25-20 lead.
Middle Georgia scored one more time before Georgia State continued its onslaught. The Panthers got consecutive 3-pointers from Allen and Williams to start an 18-0 run. Georgia State led 43-24 at halftime.
Middle Georgia could never get any closer than 16 points in the second half and Georgia State put it away with an 11-0 run that upped the lead to 30 points on a 3-pointer by Roberts with 11:35 left.
Georgia State returns to Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday at Appalachian State, the first of three straight road games.
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