Simonds dunks his way to 29 points, Georgia St. wins 81-75
ATLANTA -- D'Marcus Simonds slammed home his seventh dunk of the night with just under a minute to play as Georgia State held off UT Arlington 81-75 for its sixth straight Sun Belt Conference win on Thursday night.
Georgia State (15-6, 6-2) opened conference play by losing to South Alabama and Troy before starting its current win streak. The Panthers are off to their second-best start in program history.
Simonds was 13 of 27 from the floor to total 29 points while grabbing 10 rebounds with five assists, five steals and two blocked shots.
Malik Benlevi added 14 points, Jeff Thomas had 13 and Jordan Session chipped in 12 with 13 rebounds for Georgia State.
UTA held a 30-28 halftime advantage and quickly stretched that to 39-32 before the Panthers charged back to take a 50-49 lead with 9:36 remaining in the game. Simonds slammed his fourth dunk of the night for a 56-53 lead with 8:00 left. Benlevi drilled a 3 and Session followed with a layup to stretch the lead to 64-56.
Kevin Hervey led UTA (13-9, 4-5) with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
Appalachian State battles back, beats Little Rock 72-67 in OT
BOONE, N.C. -- O'Showen Williams had 13 points and Griffin Kinney added 10 with 12 rebounds as Appalachian State battled back to beat Little Rock 72-67 in overtime on Thursday night.
Appalachian State (9-13, 4-5 Sun Belt Conference) outscored the Trojans 13-8 in the extra period.
Appalachian State's Tyrel Johnson blocked Jaizec Lottie's layup with six seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime.
Kinney made two free throws for a 59-58 lead with 2:46 left. The Mountaineers were scoreless from then on in regulation. Wadly Mompremier, who finished with a career-best 16 points, split a pair of free throws to tie the game with 44 seconds remaining.
Justin Forrest added 12 points and Isaac Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
Andre Jones had 15 points for Little Rock (5-16, 2-6).
Little Rock, leading 38-32 at the break, started fast in the second period to go ahead 43-32 early. Forrest drilled a trey as Appalachian State rallied and took the lead 55-53 when Kinney drove for a layup at the 7:32 mark.
Labinowicz leads Coastal Carolina over Arkansas State 62-47
CONWAY, S.C. -- Artur Labinowicz scored 17 points and matched a career-high with 10 rebounds to help Coastal Carolina beat Arkansas State 62-47 on Thursday night.
Coastal Carolina (9-13, 3-6 Sun Belt Conference) has won two straight since snapping a six-game skid. Arkansas State (7-14, 2-6) has lost six of its last seven games.
Labinowicz also had team-highs with three 3-pointers, two steals and two blocked shots. Jaylen Shaw added 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Chanticleers, who outrebounded Arkansas State 55-34, with four grabbing eight boards apiece.
The Red Wolves had three score in double figures despite miserable shooting. They missed 30 from long range and finished 17 of 68 (25 percent) from the field. Tristin Walley had 13 points, Grantham Gillard added 12 and Ty Cockfield had 10. Arkansas State was held to fewer than 50 points for the second time this season, the last a 31-point loss to Georgia Southern three weeks ago.
Texas State survives late 3-point attempt in 62-61 win
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Nijal Pearson scored 22 points, Tre'Larenz Nottinghamsank the winning free throw with 3.7 seconds showing on the clock and Texas State survived a desperation shot at the buzzer to defeat Georgia Southern 62-61 Thursday night, breaking the Eagles' six-game win streak at home.
Tookie Brown, who led all scorers with 25 points, tied the game at 61-61 with a free throw at 1:12 remaining. Each team missed from behind the 3-point arc in the last 44 seconds -- Nottingham for the Bobcats (14-8, 7-2 Sun Belt) and Jake Allsmiller for Georgia Southern (14-7, 5-3).
Trailing by one with 3.7 seconds left and needing to go the length of the court, Georgia Southern threw a football-style over-the-shoulder inbounds pass to Brown, who was already running down court. The 5-foot-11 junior launched a 3-pointer on the run. The shot was on line, but hit the back of the rim and kicked out deep as time expired.
Immanuel King scored eight points for Texas State and his lone block moved him into seventh place on the school's all-time list.
ULM has strong 2nd half, beats Troy 76-71
MONROE, La. -- Sam McDaniel scored the last seven points for Louisiana Monroe as the Warhawks had a strong second half to beat Troy 76-71 on Thursday night to stop a four-game skid.
Troy had a commanding 38-24 halftime advantage and was up 41-26 before McDaniel, Michael Ertel and Marvin Jean-Pierre nailed consecutive treys to start a 21-5 run, capped by McDaniel's three free throws. Travis Munnings drilled a 3 and had a layup, and Jordan Harris added a layup to give the Warhawks a 56-54 lead midway in the second half.
ULM (8-11, 2-6) continued the charge, winning the second half 52-33, to garner its second Sun Belt Conference victory.
Ertel and Munnings led the Warhawks with 22 and 21 points respectively. Jean-Pierre added nine with 16 rebounds, and McDaniel finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Wesley Person's 22 points on the night gave him 1,876 for his career, making him the leading scorer in Trojan history. Alex Hicks added 15 points with 10 rebounds for Troy (9-12, 3-5).
Louisiana stays hot, beats South Alabama 76-57 behind Marquetti
LAFAYETTE, La. -- Malik Marquetti scored 21 points, JaKeenan Grant scored 16 and Bryce Washington grabbed 16 rebounds and Louisiana pulled away in the second half to beat South Alabama 76-57 Thursday night.
Louisiana led 34-29 at halftime and used a 17-2 run in an almost eight-minute span for a 66-45 lead with 5:42 left. Louisiana shot 6 of 14 from the field while South Alabama went 1 of 7 during that stretch.
Marquetti hit five 3-pointers and Frank Bartley IV added 11 points. The Ragin' Cajuns made half their 24 3-point attempts and finished 25-of-52 shooting. Louisiana also owned a 41-25 rebounding advantage.
Trhae Mitchell lead the Jaguars with 16 points, shooting 7 of 10, grabbed eight rebounds and Josh Ajayi scored 13.
Louisiana (18-3, 8-0 Sun Belt) has won eight straight and 14 of its last 15 contests. The Ragin' Cajuns haven't lost consecutive games this season. South Alabama (11-10, 4-4) saw its two-game win streak come to an end.