Moments after Georgia State saw its basketball season end, first-year coach Jonas Hayes was already starting to look toward next year.
“We will never forget how this feels,” Hayes said after Tuesday’s 81-76 loss to Texas State in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Fla. “We don’t ever want to have a repeat of this feeling. And if it’s 10:12 p.m., we’re starting at 10:13. It starts tonight.”
The scene was far different than a year ago, when a veteran Georgia State team won the tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament. This year’s team, with little experience returning, battled through injuries and adversity to end the season 10-21, concluding with an eight-game losing streak.
“I’m excited about our guy’s effort,” Hayes said. “Our guys never found it in their spirit to give up or give in. That’s something we can build on. We’ll move forward. We’ll get better.”
The Panthers will have sophomore Collin Moore back for a full season. He missed the first 18 games with a thumb injury and has emerged as the team’s top player since his return. He had a team-high 25 points and eight rebounds against Texas State.
“Get back and keep working,” Moore said, “I watch a lot of Kobe (Bryant) videos, watching him push himself to exhaustion. I’m going to do that this summer.”
The Panthers also saw a rejuvenated Dwon Odom in the tournament. He effectively drove to the basket and scored 18 points.
“We saw a mismatch and we kept feeding him,” Moore said. “He was getting to the rack and scoring very well.”
Georgia State trailed 41-31 at halftime, but in the second half transformed what was once a 15-point deficit all the way down to four points. But Texas State used a 6-0 spurt to regain control and the Panthers were not able to get closer than five again.
“Our guys buckled down and showed conviction to come back,” Hayes said. “We had Dwon and Collin making shots. We showed a lot of poise and that’s something we can take away from it.”
Kaleb Scott came off the bench to added 10 points and five rebounds and Brenden Tucker had 10 points and six rebounds.
Texas State (14-18) had five players in double figures, including Atlanta-area ex-pats Drue Drinnon and Tyrel Morgan. Drinnon, who played at East Jackson and Pebblebrook, scored 16 points, and Morgan, who played at Hughes, scored 14 points with seven rebounds.
“I thought our guys played great in spurts,” Hayes said. “Our decision making was lacking at key points, but I don’t want to take anything away from Texas State. They brought it to us.”
Credit: Sun Belt
Credit: Sun Belt
GSU women win Sun Belt opener
The Georgia State women continued their dominance over South Alabama with a 59-44 win in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday. The No. 12 seeded Panthers beat the Jaguars for the sixth straight time and advance to the second round to play No. 5 Old Dominion on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
The Panthers (12-20) limited South Alabama to just 25% shooting and posted their widest margin of victory this season.
Mikyla Tolivert had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and Deasia Merril added 16 points and eight rebounds.
“These two have led our team all year, so it’s no coincidence that they led us today,” coach Gene Hill said. “They’ve really stepped up and have been great leaders every day in practice. I’m happy that they were able to come out and reap the benefits and show everyone what kind of talent they have.”
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