Thursday, January 15, 2015
Georgia Southern knocks off UL Lafayette 78-70
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Mike Hughes scored 18 points, a career high for the freshman, Jelanie Hewitt added 17 and Georgia Southern knocked off the last unbeaten Sun Belt Conference team, UL Lafayette, 78-70 on Thursday night.
Curtis Diamond added 12 points and Angel Matias 10 for the Eagles (11-3, 4-1), who won their fourth straight game.
Shawn Long scored 18 points, Hayward Register 12 and Brian Williams 10 for the Ragin' Cajuns (10-6, 4-1), who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Georgia Southern led 35-27 at halftime and was ahead by 11, 67-56, with 3:17 left. The Ragin' Cajuns were down just three points with 31 seconds left but the Eagles made 5 of 7 free throws from there while UL Lafayette went scoreless.
The game was played before a sellout crowd of 4,325 inside Hanner Fieldhouse, the largest since the Eagles drew 4,360 against Steph Curry and Davidson on Jan. 17, 2009.
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Georgia State pulls away from UT Arlington 83-62
ATLANTA (AP) Ryan Harrow pumped in 27 points as Georgia State pulled away from Texas-Arlington in the second half for an 83-62 Sun Belt Conference victory Thursday night.
Harrow dunked with 7:08 left to give the Panthers a 21-point lead, but Texas-Arlington (9-7, 3-3 Sun Belt) answered with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 12 points with 3:51 to play. Texas-Arlington did not score again the rest of the way while the Panthers closed the game out on a 9-0 run.
Harrow was 10 of 17 from the field and connected on 4 of 9 shots from the perimeter to lead Georgia State (11-6, 4-2). Kevin Ware added 11 points and Markus Crider added another 10.
Georgia State was 30 of 60 from the field.
Greg Gainey scored 11 points to lead Texas-Arlington, but was the lone player to reach double figure scoring. Lonnie McClanahan pulled down 10 rebounds.
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UL Monroe tops Troy 63-54
MONROE, La. (AP) Majok Deng scored 16 points, Tylor Ongwae added 15 with 10 rebounds, and UL Monroe held off Troy 63-54 on Thursday night to win its fourth straight game and seventh straight at home.
The Warhawks (10-6, 4-1 Sun Belt Conference) were down by one late in the second half but surged on an 11-0 run.
Wesley Person Jr. scored 13 for Troy (6-8, 1-4), Kevin Thomas 12, and Kelton Ford 11 and four assists.
UL Monroe used a 10-2 run to lead 20-12 after a layup by Jamaal Samuel, but Troy rallied to within one, 26-25, on a free throw by Chris Bilbo. Deng hit a 3 and the Warhawks led 29-25 at halftime.
Troy clawed back in the second half, taking a 49-48 lead on a 3 by Ford with 5:32 left, but the Warhawks scored 11 unanswered points and Deng hit 6 of 6 free throws in the final 54 seconds.
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Arkansas State beats Appalachian State 59-50
BOONE, N.C. (AP) Anthony Livingston had 13 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, and Arkansas State beat Appalachian State 59-50 on Thursday night.
Cameron Golden scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 3 of 6 from long range. P.J. Hardwick added 11 points, nine assists and eight boards for Arkansas State (7-8, 2-4 Sun Belt), which snapped a four-game losing skid.
The Red Wolves led 29-27 at the break, opened the second half on a 10-0 surge, and stretched the lead to 50-36 with 8:24 remaining. Appalachian State's Jake Babic hit a 3 and Tommy Spagnolo scored to pull the Mountaineers within 55-50 with 2:56 left. The Red Wolves made 4 of 7 free throws down the stretch to seal it.
Frank Eaves had 13 points and Spagnolo scored 10 and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Appalachian State (4-10, 1-4).
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Gant leads Texas State past South Alabama 82-71
SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Emani Gant scored a career-high 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead Texas State to an 82-71 win over South Alabama on Thursday night.
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury, who made 7 of 11 field-goal attempts, added a career-high 16 points for Texas State (10-5, 4-2 Sun Belt). Ethan Montalvo scored 14 and D.J. Brown 12.
Ken Williams hit a 3 with 18:10 left to pull South Alabama (4-12, 2-4) within three, but Montalvo hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 15-3 run which made it 55-41 about 5 minutes later.
The Jaguars trailed by double digits the rest of the way.
South Alabama shot 54 percent from the field and made nearly twice as many free throws (27) as Texas State attempted (15), but it wasn't enough.
Texas State converted 15 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points and scored 26 off of 19 South Alabama turnovers.
Williams led the Jaguars with 23 points.