It was an unfortunate time for Georgia State to have one of its worst shooting games of the season.
Playing their biggest rival before the first sellout of the season at the GSU Sports Arena, the Panthers played from behind all night, shot 34.8% from the floor and suffered a 79-70 loss to Georgia Southern on Friday.
“This is the most disappointing effort we’ve given all year,” Georgia State coach Rob Lanier said. “We’ve been in some games like this but we always find a way to fight back.”
It was the third straight loss for the Panthers, who lost two games last week on a road trip through Texas, and dropped into fourth place in the Sun Belt. Georgia Southern moved into third place with the victory.
“Tonight was a pretty good exhibition of the lack of leadership inside the team and the stuff we’re trying to develop,” Lanier said. “And (Georgia Southern) was better, more prepared and played harder and more confident. They play with a sense of purpose and they deserve a lot of credit tonight. We’ve got to look in the mirror and keep getting better.”
Georgia State made only 23 of 66 from the field, its worst shooting night against a Sun Belt opponent. If you deduct the 7-for-10 effort from leading scorer Justin Roberts, who had 21, the Panthers’ shooting percentage falls all the way to 27.1%.
The Panthers couldn’t buy a 3-pointer, either. Georgia State was 10-for-32, with the 5-for-8 effort by Roberts the only redeeming point.
The Panthers (18-11, 11-8 Sun Belt) also got 15 points. five rebounds and four steals from Kane Williams. Nelson Phillips and Damon Wilson each score 11.
Georgia Southern (18-12, 12-7) got a dominant inside performance from 6-foot-7 senior Isaiah Crawley, who had 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Ike Smith added 15 points and six rebounds, Calvin Wishart scored 12 and Simeon Carter scored 11 points.
”It was going to be something because the effort wasn’t there,” Lanier said. “It wasn’t that carry over, what we practice and in the heat of the game we never really executed what we’re trying to do.”
Georgia Southern came out and scored the first four baskets, making it 9-0 on Elijah McCadden’s 3-pointer. Georgia State cut the lead to 3 when Phillips drained a 3-pointer, but could not get any closer – setting a trend for the rest of the game.
Georgia Southern had a 10-point lead after Smith’s layup at 9:56 made it 25-15, but Georgia State used a 9-0 run to cut the margin to 25-24 on Roberts’ jumper with 6:24. The Panthers could never break through and Georgia Southern used a late 8-0 run to take a 39-31 lead at halftime.
The same scenario played out early in the second half. Georgia State drew to within 41-38 on Josh Linder’s layup, but Georgia Southern outscored the Panthers 19-7 – which included a 9-0 run – to take a 15-point lead with 7:21 remaining.
The Georgia State fans stuck around, hoping to see the Panthers duplicate their effort in the first meeting against Georgia Southern, when they erased a 14-point deficit in the final 13 minutes on the way to an 82-77 win. But Georgia State could never get closer than eight points.
Georgia State plays its final regular-season game on Tuesday against league-leading Little Rock.
