Troy pulls away late, beats Georgia Southern 65-62
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Musa Abdul-Aleem scored 25 points and hit a key jumper with 32 seconds left to help Troy beat Georgia Southern 65-62 on Thursday night.
Georgia Southern's Angel Matias made a layup to tie it at 62 with 1:07 left. Abdul-Aleem answered with his bucket and Kevin Thomas split a pair of free throws to push the Trojans lead to 65-62 with :17 left. Jelani Hewitt missed back-to-back 3s in the final seconds to seal it for Troy (10-15, 5-11 Sun Belt).
Abdul-Aleem grabbed 12 rebounds and had four steals for the Trojans, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Kevin Thomas had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Chris Bilbo chipped in 10 points.
Mike Hughes had 14 points and Matias had 11 with 10 rebounds for Georgia Southern (18-6, 11-4), which falls into a second place tie with Georgia State and a game back of conference leader Louisiana-Monroe.
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Hunter, Crider lead Georgia State past South Alabama, 79-51
ATLANTA (AP) R.J. Hunter had 28 points and eight assists, and Marcus Crider scored a career-high 21 to lead Georgia State to a 79-51 win over South Alabama on Thursday night.
Hunter hit 4 of 8 from 3-point range and made all six free throw attempts while matching his career high for assists.
Jordan Session added 11 points and three steals for Georgia State (18-8, 11-4 Sun Belt), which made 16 of 29 (55.2 percent) second-half field goals.
Hunter scored 12, including three 3-pointers, as the Panthers jumped out to a 20-7 lead less than eight minutes in and eventually took a 36-28 advantage into halftime.
A 14-4 run pushed the Georgia State lead to 55-36 with 12 minutes to play and South Alabama (9-18, 7-9), which shot just 20 percent (4 of 20) in the second half, never again threatened.
Taishaun Johnson led the Jaguars with 19 points, hitting 14 of 16 from the line.
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UL Lafayette coasts to 64-42 win over Texas State
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Shawn Long scored 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting and hauled in seven rebounds to lead UL Lafayette to a 64-42 win over Texas State on Thursday night.
Kasey Shepherd contributed 14 points and Jay Wright added 13 for UL Lafayette (15-12, 9-7 Sun Belt), which controlled the boards 40-29 to win its second straight and get the season sweep over the Bobcats.
Trailing by two midway through the first half, the Ragin' Cajuns scored eight straight points - including a pair of buckets from Devonta Walker - to ignite a 16-4 run and carry a 30-20 advantage into the break. The margin never tightened below double figures the rest of the way as UL Lafayette continued to pull away over the final 20 minutes.
Cameron Naylor led Texas State (11-14, 5-11) with 14 points and Wesley Davis added 10 points.
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Marius Hill, Mareik Isom lead UALR past Arkansas State, 70-57
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Marius Hill scored 17, and Mareik Isom added a career-high 15 points to help UALR beat Arkansas State 70-57 Thursday night.
Roger Woods and James Reid added 11 points apiece for UALR (11-15, 6-10 Sun Belt).
Hill scored seven during a 9-2 run to open the game and UALR never trailed.
Isom hit a pair of 3's and Ben Dillard made another during an 11-2 spurt late in the first half which matched the Trojans' biggest lead, 30-17, with 4:33 left in the half.
Anthony Livingston's layup with just fewer than 17 minutes left pulled Arkansas State (9-15, 4-11), which has lost five in a row, within four, but the Red Wolves would get no closer.
UALR, which committed just six turnovers, made 13 of 24 (54.2 percent) second-half field goals.
Livingston led Arkansas State with 20 points and 19 rebounds.
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UT Arlington defeats Appalachian State 81-68
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Lonnie McClanahan scored 21 points and Greg Gainey 19 to lead UT Arlington over Appalachian State 81-68 on Thursday night.
Kevin Hervey added 15 points and Erick Neal 11 for the Mavericks (15-10, 9-6 Sun Belt), who shot 49.2 percent and have won three out of their last four games.
Frank Eaves scored 20 points and Tommy Spagnolo 10 for the Mountaineers (9-15, 6-9), who shot 44.7 percent in losing their third straight game.
Three free throws by Kevin Hervey with 14:53 left in the game gave the Mavericks the lead for good. After trailing by 11, a basket by Eaves got the Mountaineers within eight points with 2:17 remaining. But Kaelon Wilson responded with a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run that left the Mavericks ahead 81-66 with 28 seconds to go.
Appalachian State led 34-32 at halftime.
There were 44 turnovers in the game, 26 by the Mountaineers.