Bartley IV, Miller lead Louisiana past Nicholls St
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Frank Bartley IV hit three 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, Justin Miller scored 18 with nine rebounds and four assists and Louisiana cruised to a 101-69 win over Nicholls State on Thursday night.
Bartley made 7 of 9 from the field while P.J. Hardy had 12 points and Bryce Washington added 11 points with 10 rebounds. Scott Plaisance and Jerekius Davis scored 10 apiece for Louisiana.
Miller scored 12 and the Ragin' Cajuns made 20 of 33 (60.6 percent) to take a 48-35 lead into halftime. They scored the first nine points and never trailed as Nicholls State (4-4) shot 40 percent, including 1 of 7 from 3-point range, and committed nine of its 22 turnovers in the first half.
Ja'Dante' Frye's 3-pointer pulled the Colonels within 10 with 15:49 left but Louisiana scored 18 of the next 22.
DeAndre Harris led Nicholls State with 21 points.
Louisiana scored 41 points off turnovers.
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Smith scores 29 in Georgia Southern's victory
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) Ike Smith scored a career-high 29 points and Georgia Southern defeated Savannah State 94-75 on Thursday night.
The Eagles (4-3) were playing their third straight game in Savannah after beating Florida A&M and Radford in the Savannah Invitational.
Smith had three 3-pointers, Tookie Brown (20 points) and Mike Hughes (14 points) each had four, and the Eagles made 13 3-pointers on 34 attempts.
The Tigers (2-7), who lost their fourth straight, were led by Austin Dasent, who had four 3-pointers and 18 points. Joshua Ford added 13 points and Troyce Manassa 11. The Tigers came in leading the nation with 16.3 3-pointers a game and 130 made. Thursday night they hit on 14 of 34 attempts.
Savannah State led by one at halftime. Brown hit a 3-pointer to snap a 60-all tie, as the Eagles outscored the Tigers by 19 points over the final 11:28.
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Texas State beats Oklahoma Panhandle State 75-44
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) Freshman Nijal Pearson scored 15 points and had five assists and Texas State used a big first-half run and a 50-31 rebounding advantage to pull away from Division II Oklahoma Panhandle State 75-44 on Thursday night.
Maljhum McCrea scored 10 points, freshman Nedeljko Prijovic grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds and all 13 Bobcats who played scored at least a field goal.
The Aggies twice led by seven points in the first half, but Texas State (4-3) rallied and Deris Duncan's layup with 3:54 left sparked a 13-4 run and the Bobcats led 35-25 at halftime.
Texas State led by as many as 35 points in the second half and finished shooting 43.1 percent from the floor (31 of 72). The Bobcats outscored the Aggies 50-20 in the paint and got 24 second-chance points off of 18 offensive rebounds.
Malcolm Glanville scored 13 for OPSU, which counted it as an exhibition game.
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Thorpe has career-high 22; South Florida tops Troy 80-74
TROY, Ala. (AP) Geno Thorpe scored South Florida's final 20 points for a career-high 22 as the Bulls held off Troy 80-74 on Thursday night.
Thorpe made 12 of 13 free throws. Troy Holston was 6 of 13 from the floor for 15 points and Luis Santos made all seven field-goal attempts for a career-best 14 points.
The Bulls (4-2) shot 59 percent in the first half to lead 43-25 at the break. Troy made just 8 of 33 in the first half.
South Florida was up 58-38 midway of the second period. Jeremy Hollimon nailed 3-pointer to start a 20-9 run as the Trojans closed to 64-58 following a Wesley Person layup at the 4:32 mark. DeVon Walker made a layup to close to 67-62 with 2:15 left. Thorpe answered with a 3-point play and added ten free throws down the stretch.
Hollimon had 15 points and Person added 14 for Troy (3-4).