Simonds finishes strong as Georgia State beats Texas State 54-50
ATLANTA -- D'Marcus Simonds scored eight of his 20 points in the final minute as Georgia State rallied to slip past Texas State 54-50 in a battle for second place in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday afternoon.
Georgia State (16-6, 7-2) trails only Louisiana in the conference standings.
Simonds outscored Texas State 8-2 in the final 1:25 as he hit a jumper and a layup for a 50-48 lead with 57 seconds left. He then made four straight free throws to cap the scoring and seal the win.
Alex Peacock drilled a trey and Nijal Pearson added a layup to give the Bobcats a 48-44 lead with 5:50 remaining, but Texas State was held to two points the rest of the way.
Jeff Thomas had 14 points with eight rebounds and Jordan Session grabbed 11 boards for Georgia State.
Pearson had 12 points and Immanuel King added nine with 13 rebounds for Texas State (14-9, 7-3).
Louisiana finishes perfect month, beats Troy 81-69
LAFAYETTE, La. -- JaKeenan Gant had a career-high 24 points and Frank Bartley IV and Johnathan Stove added 18 apiece as Louisiana pulled away in the second half to garner its ninth straight win, beating Troy 81-69 on Saturday afternoon.
Louisiana (19-3, 9-0 Sun Belt Conference) has won 16 of its last 17 games and has yet to be pushed in conference action, taking double-digit victories in every contest. The Ragin' Cajuns posted a perfect record in January (7-0) for the first time since the 1999-2000 team won nine games for the month en route to a school-record 25 wins. Louisiana's next game is at Louisiana-Monroe on February 3.
The Ragin' Cajuns took the lead for good when Gant drilled a 3 as time expired in the first half to take a 40-36 advantage into the break. Stove had a layup and Bartley added a trey to push the lead to 69-59 with 8:43 left.
Jordon Varnado had 18 points with B.J. Miller adding 17 for Troy (9-13, 3-6).
Louisiana-Monroe beats South Alabama 83-74
MONROE, La. -- Travis Munnings scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds and Louisiana-Monroe beat South Alabama 83-74 on Saturday.
Sam McDaniel added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Warhawks (9-11, 3-6 Sun Belt). Marvin Jean-Pierre had 18 points and five rebounds and Michael Ertel had 17 points and seven rebounds.
Munnings made a layup and a 3-pointer back-to-back early to put the Warhawks on top for good and they went on a 27-11 run after that to push it to 38-17 with 4:12 left in the half.
McDaniel and Jean-Pierre traded 3s to open the second half and Louisiana-Monroe led all the way. Two back-to-back 3-pointers by South Alabama's Rodrick Sikes cut it to 70-66 with 7:09 to play but the Jaguars (11-11, 4-5) couldn't get closer.
Sikes scored a career-best 38 points for South Alabama. Josh Ajayi led the team with 14 rebounds in addition to his six points.
Simms has 23 points, Arkansas State holds off Appalachian State
BOONE, N.C. -- Deven Simms sank four free throws in the final seconds to total 23 points as Arkansas State sprinted to an early lead but then had to fend off a late Appalachian State rally for a 93-88 win on Saturday.
Arkansas State (8-14, 3-6 Sun Belt Conference) dominated early to take a 56-32 advantage into halftime. The Red Wolves were up 75-51 midway in the second period before Appalachian State rallied to close to 86-81 with :42 remaining. Ronshad Shabazz scored 17 of his 27 points in the final 8:30 to spearhead the rally.
Ty Cockfield, who added two insurance free throws with 22 seconds left, totaled 20 points with Marquis Eaton adding a career-best 16 to go with six assists in his first start. Grantham Gillard added 13 points for Arkansas State, which has won two of the last three games after dropping five straight.
Shabazz drilled 5 of 9 from distance with Justin Forrest adding 15 points and Isaac Johnson chipping in 10 with 12 rebounds for the Mountaineers (9-14, 4-6).
Coastal Carolina pulls away for 72-62 win over Little Rock
CONWAY, S.C. -- Amidou Bamba scored a career-high 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting to lead Coastal Carolina to a 72-62 win over Little Rock on Saturday.
Jaylen Shaw added 13 points and Ajay Sanders had 11 for Coastal Carolina, which shot 50 percent from the field and got 18 assists on its 24 buckets. Shaw dished out eight of those helpers.
Coastal Carolina (10-13, 4-6 Sun Belt Conference) led much of the game but Little Rock stayed close, getting a 3-pointer from Cameron Corcoran with 13:35 remaining to give the Trojans their only lead of the second half, 42-41.
Sanders, who finished 3 for 3 from long range, drained a 3-pointer at the other end to put the Chanticleers on top for good and spark a 10-0 run.
Ryan Pippins finished with 15 points for Little Rock (5-17, 2-7), which has lost four in a row, and Andre Jones had 12.
Brown leads the way, Georgia Southern bounces UTA 74-59
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Tookie Brown scored 23 points as Georgia Southern got off to a slow start but dominated the second half to beat UT Arlington 74-59 in Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday night.
UTA sprinted to a 21-8 lead before the Eagles rallied to close to 31-29 at the half. Georgia Southern's Ike Smith hit a jumper to open the second period and Mike Hughes nailed a 3 for a 34-31 lead. Smith added another jumper in a 7-0 run to open the half. The Eagles pushed their advantage to 66-55 with 2:37 left following Jake Allsmiller's trey.
Quan Jackson hit 3 of 3 from distance for 12 points, Hughes added 11 and Smith finished with 10 points and six rebounds for Georgia Southern (15-7, 6-3).
Kevin Hervey had 29 points to lead UTA (13-10, 4-6) which has lost three of its last four games. Link Kabadyundi added eight points with a career-high 11 rebounds.