Smith scores 28; Georgia Southern beats Louisiana 81-76
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Ike Smith scored 28 points and Georgia Southern beat Louisiana 81-76 on Saturday night for its fifth straight win.
The Eagles took the lead for good with 12:50 left, and had a 10-point lead with five minutes to play. Louisiana used a 15-9 spurt to pull to 75-71 with 30 seconds left. Mike Hughes and Tookie Brown each made a pair of free throws to stretch the Eagles' lead to 79-73. The Ragin' Cajuns' Jay Wright made a 3-pointer, and then Hughes made two more from the free-throw line to seal it.
Smith was 9 of 17 from the floor and 8 of 11 from the line. Brown added 19 points and five assists for Georgia Southern (11-6, 4-0 Sun Belt). Hughes made 6 of 8 free throws and finished with eight points.
Wright scored 21 points to lead Louisiana (12-5, 2-2). Bryce Washington added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
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Thomas scores late, sparks Arkansas State past UALR, 77-72
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Donte Thomas gave Arkansas State the lead with a 3-point play and helped ice a 77-72 win over Little Rock with a pair of late free throws in a Sun Belt battle Saturday night.
Thomas gave the Red Wolves the lead with 3:22 left when he got to the basket for a layup and tacked on a free throw to make it 72-70. He added on two more free throws with :16 left and Jahmiah Simmons added another from the line to set the final score.
Devin Carter scored 28 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the field, including 3 of 8 from distance, and Devin Simms added 22 points, converting 9 of 10 from the line to lead Arkansas State (12-6, 3-2).
Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 15 points off the bench to lead Little Rock (11-7, 2-3). Deondre Burns added 14 points.
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Person hits 10 3s in Troy win over UTA
TROY, Ala. (AP) Wesley Person scored a career-high 39 points with 10 3-pointers, Jordon Varnado added 24 and grabbed eight rebounds, and Troy beat UTA 93-71 on Saturday.
Jeremy Hollimon scored 10 points and Kevin Baker had five assists for the Trojans (10-8, 2-2 Sun Belt), who made 17 of 31 from behind the arc (54.8 percent) and 33 of 56 from the floor (58.9 percent).
Person was 13 of 19 from the floor, 10 of 15 from behind the arc, and scored 20 points in the first half.
Varnado hit two layups and Troy opened the second half with a 9-3 run for a 55-39 lead, and then led by 16 on Person's layup with 14:29 left. The Mavericks closed to 69-60 on Drew Charles' 3 with 7:17 left, but Person hit a 3 on both ends of an 11-2 run and Troy led 80-62 with 5:22 left.
Erick Neal scored 22 for the Mavericks (12-5, 2-2).
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Coastal Carolina gives Cliff Lewis 800th career win
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) Jaylen Shaw scored 20 points, Elijah Wilson added 19 and Coastal Carolina defeated Appalachian State 85-73 on Saturday, giving Cliff Ellis his 800th career win.
Ellis has 180 wins in his ninth season at Coast Carolina after stops at Cumberland (78 wins), South Alabama (171) and Clemson (177) and Auburn (186). He is the only coach in NCAA history with at least 170 wins with four different programs.
Shivaughn Wiggins had 15 points off the bench for the Chanticleers (9-9, 4-1 Sun Belt), who won their fourth straight.
Wilson had three of his four 3-pointers and 15 points in the first half when Coastal Carolina opened a 44-33 lead. The Mountaineers (6-10, 1-4) began the second half with an 11-3 run, getting it to 47-44 on a Griffin Kinney layup four minutes in.
A 3-pointer from Shaw at 11:30 and a jumper by Wiggins at 7:14 put the lead by at 12. The Chants then made all eight of their free throws in the last 64 seconds to secure the win.
Before the closing stretch, Coastal Carolina was 7 of 14 from the line in the second half.
Ronshad Shabazz had 17 points, and Kinney and Emarius Logan had 11 apiece for App State.
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South Alabama rallies to beat Texas State 72-67 in OT
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Shaq Calhoun scored 26 points as South Alabama rallied late to beat Texas State 72-67 in overtime Saturday.
Calhoun was 8 of 15 from the field including six 3-pointers for the Jaguars (9-8, 2-2 Sun Belt). Ken Williams added 16 points and seven rebounds and Josh Ajayi had 10 points including four foul shots in the final seconds that sealed the win.
In overtime, Williams hit a 3-pointer to give South Alabama a 68-64 edge with 1:31 to play. Texas State's Nijal Pearson drained a layup to close it to 68-67 with 17 seconds remaining, but Ajayi then hit four free throws to keep the Jaguars on top.
Texas State led 23-18 at the break and stretched it to 35-26 with 15:54 to play. South Alabama tied it at 60 with 2:09 left but neither team scored again before the end of regulation.
Pearson led the Bobcats (9-7, 2-2) with 14 points.
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Georgia State stiffens up, tops ULM 73-65 in OT
MONROE, La. (AP) Jeremy Hollowell scored 24 points, Malik Benlevi drained five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, and Georgia State's stingy overtime defense led to a 73-65 win over ULM on Saturday.
Tied at 59 after regulation, Georgia State (9-7, 2-2 Sun Belt) held the Warhawks without a point until Jordon Harris' jumper with 1:19 left cut the lead to 68-61. It was the only field goal for ULM in the extra period.
The Panthers opened a seven-point lead on Benlevi's 3-pointer with 9:33 remaining in regulation, but ULM answered with a 9-2 run to tie it at 52 with 3:18 left.
Benlevi hit another 3 with 47 seconds left to give Georgia State a 59-57 lead. The Warhawks had a chance for the lead when Marcus Washington was fouled on his made jumper 16 seconds later to tie it at 59, but he missed the free throw.
Sam McDaniel, Nick Coppola and Travis Munnings each finished with 11 points for ULM (6-11, 0-4), with McDaniel grabbing 13 rebounds.