With Georgia State holding a three-point lead at halftime, all indications pointed to another typical wire-to-wire battle against rival Georgia Southern. Turns out the exact opposite happened.
Georgia State started strong defensively in the second half and senior Kane Williams sparked a 10-0 spurt to lead the Panthers to a 79-63 win on Thursday at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers (12-10, 6-5 Sun Belt) have won four straight and six of their last seven. Georgia State, dead last in the conference five weeks ago, is on the verge of climbing into the top four and earning a first-round tournament bye.
“Although we had the lead at halftime, I wasn’t pleased with our effort and our intensity defensively,” coach Rob Lanier said. “The numbers didn’t reflect it, but our effort level was better in the second half.”
Georgia State outrebounded Georgia Southern 41-23 and came away with 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 more shots than the Eagles.
“I thought that was the key to the game,” Lanier said. “That differential made a difference.”
Williams scored 21 points, including 9-for-10 from the line, and moved up to No. 3 on the career scoring list with 1,516, one better than Rodney Hamilton. He became the third player in program history to score 1,500 points.
Corey Allen scored 18 and Justin Roberts scored 13; both of them contributed three 3-pointers. Eliel Nsoseme had 11 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the season and ninth of his career.
“You know, we didn’t catch fire, but we looked a little bit more like how we’ve played in the past offensively, so that’s encouraging,” Lanier said. “We can’t fall in love with that and allow that to take away from the defensive intensity we’ve established.”
Georgia State’s defense played at a high level during the 10-0 run that provided a 14-point lead and sent the Panthers on the way to a rout. That’s when Georgia State caused three turnovers, blocked a shot and allowed Georgia Southern to take only one shot.
That led to a 19-6 stretch – Georgia Southern scored only on a pair of 3-pointers by Gedi Juozapaitis – and the Panthers pushed the lead to as many as 22 points. That was to much for the Eagles to overcome.
Georgia Southern (11-13, 4-9) has lost four in a row and dropped seven of its last 10. The Eagles got 17 points from Kamari Brown, 14 points and nine rebounds from Andre Savrasov and 11 points from Juozapaitis.
Georgia State had its largest lead of the first half when Williams knifed through the lane at 8:07, but Brown scored seven unanswered points to square it at 22-22. The Panthers closed on a 6-2 run and led 32-29 at the break. Allen led Georgia State with nine first-half points.
The two rivals have a rematch on Saturday in Statesboro. Georgia State has won 11 of the last 16 meetings.
“It’s going to be a different game,” Lanier said. “It’s not going to be the same plays by the same players. It’s not going to be the same flow. It’s a new game and a new challenge. I think we’ve got some mettle and some toughness and have developed an ability to fight through adversity. Now we’re having success and if we’re really tough, we’ve got to be able to handle that.”
About the Author
