ULM wins again in OT, beats Georgia St. 90-82
ATLANTA -- Sam McDaniel had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Louisiana-Monroe won its second overtime game in three days, upsetting Georgia State 90-82 on Saturday afternoon.
McDaniel drained his fifth trey of the night to give Louisiana-Monroe a 76-73 lead with 31 seconds left in regulation right before he fouled out. D'Marcus Simonds answered with a layup and free throw to send it to overtime.
Michael Ertel took over in the extra period where he scored eight of his 21 points as the Warhawks outscored the Panthers 14-6. Travis Munnings finished with 16 points and nine rebounds.
ULM (11-12, 5-7 Sun Belt) beat Georgia Southern 66-64 in overtime on Thursday.
Georgia State, winners of 10 straight, including in a 106-92 thumping of Sun Belt Conference leader Louisiana on Thursday, battled back after trailing 60-44 early in the second half.
Simonds totaled a career-best 39 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers (19-7, 10-3).
Appalachian State closes strong, tops Coastal Carolina 81-66
CONWAY, S.C. -- O'Showen Williams scored a career-best 20 points and Ronshad Shabazzadded 19 with three steals as Appalachian State pulled away in the second half for an 81-66 win over Coastal Carolina in Sun Belt Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Griffin Kinney added 14 points for Appalachian State (11-15, 6-7) which won two straight for the first time since ending December with wins over Texas State and UT Arlington.
Coastal Carolina took a 33-32 advantage into the break and led 40-34 early in the second period before Justin Forrest scored seven unanswered points to give the Mountaineers a 41-40 lead at the 16:39 mark. Appalachian State took the lead for good when Hunter Seacat hit a jumper and Williams followed with a 3 and a layup to pull ahead 52-46.
The Mountaineers, who forced 19 turnovers, won the second half 49-33.
Artur Labinowicz had 16 points for the Chanticleers (11-15, 5-8). Zac Cuthbertson added 10 points with 10 rebounds.
Sikes has 32 points, leads South Alabama to 87-67 win
MOBILE, Ala. -- Rodrick Sikes soared into the record books with 32 points to lead South Alabama to an 87-67 Sun Belt Conference win over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon.
Sikes set a school record with his fifth game this season with 30 or more points. The 6-1 junior was 12 of 22 from the floor, hitting 5 of 12 from distance. He also made 3 of 5 from the line. Sikes scored 38 points against Louisiana-Monroe two weeks ago.
Josh Ajayi added 21 points, Trhae Mitchell contributed 13 and Nick Davis had six points with 11 rebounds for the Jaguars (13-12, 6-6).
South Alabama led throughout, taking a 39-22 advantage into the break. Arkansas State never threatened in the second half.
Tamas Bruce had 13 points and Rashad Lindsey added 12 for the Red Wolves (9-17, 4-9).
Louisiana recovers from only league loss, beats Ga. Southern
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Johnathan Stove had a career-best 28 points and Bryce Washington added 18 with 13 rebounds as Louisiana recovered from its only Sun Belt Conference loss by getting past Georgia Southern 102-91 on Saturday.
Louisiana (21-4, 11-1) was rolled by Georgia State 106-92 on Thursday night. The Ragin' Cajuns had won 10 straight and 17 of their last 18 games before encountering Georgia State.
Louisiana appeared to still be suffering the aftershock as the Eagles led 35-33 at the 6:13 mark of the first half. The Ragin' Cajuns rallied for a 52-38 halftime advantage and led 77-56 with 8:38 remaining in the game.
Tookie Brown scored eight straight to rally Georgia Southern as the Eagles closed to 93-84 with 2:02 left.
Louisiana made nine free throws down the stretch to secure the win. Louisiana outrebounded the Eagles 52-28.
Brown finished with 29 points and Ike Smith added 25 for Georgia Southern (16-10, 7-6) which has dropped three straight.
Varnado leads Troy with double-double in 82-64 win
TROY, Ala. -- Jordon Varnado scored 23 points with 13 rebounds and Troy defeated Little Rock 82-64 on Saturday.
Varnado has scored in double figures in all 18 games he has played this season, having missed seven with a foot injury. His double-double was his fifth this season and 16th of the junior's career.
Javan Johnson scored 13 points and Wesley Person and Juan Davis Jr. added 11 each for Troy (12-13, 6-6 Sun Belt), which shot 52 percent on its way to a third straight victory.
Jaizec Lottie, though only 3 of 12 from the field, made 11 of 14 free throws to finish with career-high 17 points for Little Rock (5-21, 2-11), which made only 3 of 20 3-point attempts in losing its eighth straight.
Varnado scored 12 points in a 16-4 run to end the first half for a 34-22 lead. Troy led by as much as 21 in the second half.
Hervey has 33 points, UTA holds off Texas State in OT
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Kevin Hervey had 33 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as UT Arlington held on to beat Texas State 70-68 in overtime on Saturday night.
Hervey, who became the all-time rebound leader at UTA, scored two free throws with 1:08 left in the extra period to give the Mavericks the win. Hervey missed a 3-point attempt with :09 remaining. The Bobcats got the rebound and got a shot off at the buzzer but it fell short.
Texas State just missed getting the win twice in the final second of regulation. Hervey swatted away a layup by Nijal Pearson, leaving the Bobcats just enough time to inbound the ball. Alex Peacock caught the pass heading toward the basket, but missed the layup as time expired.
Hervey has 858 rebounds, passing Mack Callier (1999-03) to become the UTA career-rebound leader.
Erick Neal had 17 points and Johnny Hamilton added nine points with 12 rebounds for the Mavericks (16-10, 7-6 Sun Belt Conference.)
Tre Notthingham led Texas State (14-12, 7-6) with a career-high 24 points. Pearson added 18 with nine rebounds.