Neal 3-pointer lifts UTA past Georgia State, 68-67
ATLANTA (AP) Erick Neal drilled a 35-footer with two seconds left and UTA maintained its hold on first place in the Sun Belt Conference with a 68-67 win at Georgia State Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks only lead of the second half came at the buzzer. The Mavericks tied the game at 55-55 on a Neal trey and Jalen Jones tied it at 65-65 on his 3-pointer with 46 seconds left. D'Marcus Simonds' jumper with 22 seconds left gave Georgia State the lead, 67-65.
The win keeps UTA (20-6, 10-3) in first place by a half game. Four teams atop the Sun Belt standings are within one game in the win column. Georgia State (16-10, 9-5) had been part of a three-way tie for first, but has now lost three straight.
The Mavericks trailed by 15, 53-38 with 11 minutes to play, but ran off 14-straight and trailed by one with 7:12 to play.
Kevin Hervey led UTA with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Jeremy Hollowell scored 19 to pace Georgia State.
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Louisiana edges ULM with half-court buzzer beater
MONROE, La. (AP) Jay Wright scored 28 points and Johnathan Stove sank a half-court buzzer beater to lift Louisiana to an 85-84 win over ULM on Saturday.
Trailing most of the game, Louisiana stayed close and cut the deficit to 84-82 with a pair of free throws from Kadavion Evans with four seconds left. ULM's Roderick Taylor was fouled but missed both free throws at the other end and the Ragin Cajuns' got the rebound, then shuttled the ball to Stove, who dribbled just past half court and fired the winning bucket ahead of the buzzer.
Stove finished with 17 points and Justin Miller had 12 for Louisiana (16-11, 6-8 Sun Belt Conference), which shot 51 percent from the field to win its second in a row.
ULM (7-20, 1-13) shot 63 percent from the field (32-51) but lost the rebounding battle 30-25 and was outscored from long range 7-5. Prince Cooper led five Warhawks in double figures.
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Georgia Southern holds off Texas State 70-67
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Tookie Brown scored 21 points and Georgia Southern held off a late Texas State run to win 70-67 on Saturday to end a two-game skid.
Trailing by 12 at halftime, the Bobcats closed to four, 59-55, on Tyler Blount's 3-pointer, then to three, 67-64, on Kavin Gilder-Tilbury's 3 with 24 seconds left. Bobby Conley's 3 with six seconds left made it a one-point game, but Brown was fouled and hit both from the line. Ojai Black's 3-pointer at the buzzer missed.
Ike Smith added 17 for the Eagles (17-10, 10-4 Sun Belt), who outscored the Bobcats 28-18 in the paint.
Georgia Southern opened with a 12-4 run capped by Jake Allsmiller's 3-pointer and led 24-12 after Smith's dunk. Smith scored 12 points and the Eagles led 38-26 at halftime after shooting 60.9 percent from the floor and holding the Bobcats to 45.5 percent.
Gilder-Tilbury scored 22 with four 3-pointers for Texas State (15-10, 8-5), who saw their two-game win streak end.
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High-scoring second half powers South Alabama past Appalachian State
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Ken Williams scored 20 points, Georgi Boyanov totaled 12 points and 12 rebounds, and South Alabama used a high-scoring second half to pull away from Appalachian State for an 87-74 win on Saturday night.
Williams scored 18 after the break, part of a Jags effort that shot 57 percent from the field (16 of 28), including 6 for 10 from 3-point range, for 57 points in the second half. Josh Ajayi, who finished with 16 points, was 4 of 5 for 12 points in the second half.
South Alabama (13-13, 6-7 Sun Belt) opened the second on a 15-3 run, capped by back-to-back 3s from Nick Stover and Ajayi to give the Jaguars a 45-39 lead they wouldn't give back. The Mountaineers cut it to 51-50 on Bennett Holley's 3 with 10:57 left but South Alabama answered with an 8-1 run and led by at least two possessions the rest of the way.
Appalachian State (8-17, 3-11) led by as many as 10 points in the first half and carried a 36-30 lead into halftime. Ronshad Shabazz and Craig Hinton led with 13 points apiece and Griffin Kinney had 12 points and seven boards.
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Varnado helps Troy roll past Coastal Carolina 87-78
TROY, Ala. (AP) Jordon Varnado scored 17 points, DeVon Walker scored 13 with 10 rebounds, and Troy led wire-to-wire in an 87-78 win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
Troy (14-12, 6-6 Sun Belt) led 48-37 at the break before Elijah Wilson's 3 cut it to 48-40 seven seconds into the second half. The Trojans responded with a 20-6 run over the next seven minutes to take a 68-46 lead with 13:06 left, and the lead remained in double digits until the final seconds.
Varnado, who was named the Sun Belt player of the week on Tuesday, finished 6 of 11 from the field and added six rebounds.
The Trojans average 40.8 rebounds per game - seventh in the country - and outrebounded Coastal Carolina 39-32, including 13 offensive, leading to 14 second-chance points.
Wilson made four 3s to lead the Chanticleers (13-13, 8-5) with 17 points. Shivaughn Wiggins also made four 3s and finished with 14 points.