Georgia State’s final men’s basketball game of the regular season looked very familiar to many of their other conference games. And the result was another loss, one that guaranteed the Panthers would finish last in the Sun Belt Conference.
GSU played well for a half, got behind when their opponent caught fire early in the second period and wound up digging a hole from which there was no escape. This time it resulted in a 90-69 loss to James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va. It was the seventh straight loss for Georgia State, which dropped 11 of their final 12.
“We didn’t have the outcome we wanted but I thought our guys fought,” Georgia State coach Jonas Hayes said. “We just weren’t able to put two halves together.”
The Panthers finished last in the league and will play Texas State in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the Pensacola (Fla.) Bay Center. Georgia State and Texas State did not play during the regular season.
The finale had a promising start. Collin Moore scored seven of Georgia State’s first nine points and the Panthers built a six-point lead on a 3-pointer from Kalik Brooks and a three-point play from Brenden Tucker. GSU held a 40-34 lead at halftime.
It was a different story in the second half when the Panthers could not slow the JMU shooters. The Dukes shot 61% from the field in the second half and were 7-for-13 on 3-pointers. They quickly caught Georgia State by opening the half on a 17-4 run and led by as many as 27.
“We just didn’t bring the same level of intensity,” Hayes said. “I thought our guys fought. We had a couple shots that didn’t fall and we had a few mental mistakes on the defensive end that kind of piled up. You just can’t make that many mental mistakes against a veteran team that’s configured like they are. They’re good.”
The Panthers (10-20, 3-15) were led by Tucker and Moore, who each scored 16. Tucker had 12 points in the first half. Moore was 5-for-6 from the field but was limited to 26 minutes when he picked up his third personal foul in the final seconds of the first half.
Jamaine Mann scored 14 points with a team-high seven rebounds and Dwon Odom added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Ja’Heim Hudson played 12 minutes after missing the last two games with lower back issues but wasn’t effective and scored just two points.
James Madison (21-10, 12-6) got 19 points from the ageless Vado Morse and 16 points and 12 rebounds from burly 6-foot-7 graduate transfer Alonzo Sule. Tucker High product Terrence Edwards scored 12.
“Momentum is real,” Hayes said. “They came out with a renewed sense of intensity, physicality and execution.”
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