Georgia State managed to produce more come-from-behind magic on Thursday night, this time with a 76-73 win over South Alabama at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers, who came from 14 points behind on Saturday to win at Georgia Southern, trailed by nine points with 9:01 left and were behind 73-70 with 1:35 remaining before their latest dramatics.
“It was another opportunity for us," Georgia State coach Rob Lanier said. “You don't want games to go like that. We want to play well but I do think it's been important the last couple of games here. When we found our backs against the wall, we found it within our character to win the game. That's important.”
Georgia State’s Kane Williams drove for fast-break basket to cut the lead to one with 59 seconds left. Then South Alabama’s Trhae Mitchell – a product of Pebblebrook High in Mableton and the team’s leading scorer – fouled out on a drive to the basket. Georgia State took the lead with 31 seconds left when Williams dropped in a shot from the paint.
After Andre Fox missed a floater in the lane, Georgia State’s Nelson Phillips snagged the rebound and was fouled. Phillips made both free throws with 10.2 seconds left in the game to give the Panthers the three-point margin of victory.
“I thought Nelson gave us some energy again," Lanier said. “Energy hasn't been a problem for us, but today it just didn't feel energized. We didn't create energy to start the game and Nelson was kind of like the only one who brought that."
It was Georgia State’s 15th straight win at home and kept the Panthers (15-7, 8-3 Sun Belt) in second place in the league. Georgia State swept the two-game season series against South Alabama and has won the last five meetings. Georgia State has won five of its last six games.
Georgia State trailed by as many as nine points in the second half, the last time with 13:01 when a Kevin Morris layup gave South Alabama a 59-50 lead. Georgia State came back to tie the game 64-64 on a three-point play by Justin Roberts.
Corey Allen led the Panthers with 19 points, with Williams and Phillips each scoring 15 and Roberts adding 11. Phillips had seven rebounds and Williams added five assists.
South Alabama (14-8, 7-4) was paced by Fox with 20 points and 15 from Josh Ajayi.
On a night where points would be at a premium, Georgia State came out cold. The Panthers trailed 8-1 early and didn’t make their first basket until Jalen Thomas scored on a short jumper from the paint at the 13:45 mark.
The Panthers finally tied the game with 5:37 left on a pair of Allen free throws and took their first lead when Roberts converted a four-point play to put Georgia State ahead 26-24.
The Panthers surged with a 6-0 run, punctuated by a Williams 3-pointer, and led 38-35 at halftime.
