Riding a three-game losing streak and coming off its most lackluster effort of the season, Georgia State conducted one of its most intense practices on Sunday and responded with perhaps its best win of the season on Tuesday.
There was no lack of energy for the Panthers this time, especially from Damon Wilson and Chris Clerkley, the two players honored during pregame Senior Night ceremonies before the team’s final regular-season game.
Wilson, a 6-foot-5 guard, had 20 points and six rebounds, and Clerkley had six rebounds to lead the Panthers to an 89-70 win over Little Rock, the regular-season Sun Belt Conference champion.
It was the fourth time Wilson has scored 20-plus points this season. He fell two points shy of matching his career high.
“The only reason it was really emotional was because as a team we’ve been going through some things and our record isn’t as good as we want it to be,” Wilson said. “We wanted to get the win bad because we haven’t been playing our best.”
Clerkley admitted the difficult practice helped the team get refocused. “It was one of the hardest practices I’ve been a part of. It got us better, though.”
Georgia State (19-12, 12-8) was led in scoring by 21 points from Kane Williams, who was 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, and handed out seven assists. Jalen Thomas matched his career high with 14 points – all in the second half.
The victory, along with a Georgia Southern loss, enabled the Panthers to finish fourth in the regular season and earned them a bye until the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament. Georgia State will host a game on Wednesday and could wind up playing rival Georgia Southern for the third time this season.
“We had some things to work through,” Georgia State coach Rob Lanier said. “We fought through it and played well tonight.”
Little Rock (21-10, 15-5) got 24 points and nine rebounds from Kamani Johnson.
Georgia State watched a nine-point halftime lead quickly evaporate early in the second half and Little Rock took a 58-56 lead on a 3-pointer by Ben Coupet Jr. But Thomas restored order and tied the game with a short hook shot, Roberts followed with deflating 3-pointer and the Panthers embarked on a 20-1 run that left them leading 76-59 with 7:38 left. That run included back-to-back steals and baskets by Nelson Phillips, who started his first game of the season.
Little Rock played most of the game without high-scoring guard Markquis Nowell, an All-Sun Belt player. Nowell played seven minutes before retiring to the bench with a hamstring issue, but not before scoring 10 points on 3-for-3 shooting.
Nowell also picked up an unusual technical foul. After a ball was ruled out of bounds in favor of Georgia State, Nowell animatedly gave a couple of pats to the rear end of the official. The startled ref turned and methodically signaled the technical foul.
The first half had little pace, with the teams totaling 27 well-deserved fouls due to the physical nature of play. The game was tied 29-29 with 6:16 left, but Georgia State outscored Little Rock 18-9 to end the half and had a 47-38 lead at the break.
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