Coastal Carolina 88, Troy 75
TROY, Ala. – Tyrell Gumbs-Frater scored a game-high 20 points as Coastal Carolina opened Sun Belt Conference action with a road 88-75 win at Troy. Gumbs-Frater led a three-point Chanticleers barrage with six three-point field goals as CCU finished the game with a season-high 15 threes. It was one three off the school-record of 16 set in January of 2008 against VMI and once again in February of the same year vs. UNC Asheville.
South Alabama 79, Appalachian State 73
MOBILE, Ala. – Rodrick Sikes scored 21 points and made four 3-pointers and South Alabama held off a late rally to defeat Appalachian State 79-73 in a Sun Belt Conference opener on Thursday night. Appalachian State's 12-3 run in the final 2:30 cut a 14-point Jaguars lead to 75-70. South Alabama's Kory Holden made a pair of free throws then O'Showen Williams answered with a 3 for Appalachian State. Leading by four, the Jaguars twice made one of two free throws and Appalachian State missed a pair of 3-pointers to finish out the game.
ULM 97, Little Rock 84
MONROE, La. – Daishon Smith had career highs with 10 3-pointers and 42 points to lead ULM to a 97-84 victory over Little Rock on Thursday night in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams. ULM (8-5, 1-0 Sun Belt) rebounded from an 81-69 loss at LSU on Dec. 28 that snapped a four-game winning streak. Little Rock (5-9, 0-1) has lost five of its last six.
Arkansas State 9,4 Louisiana 83
LAFAYETTE, La. – A career high 24 points from Marquis Eaton helped the Arkansas State men’s basketball team to a conference opening 94-83 road win at Louisiana Thursday night. Coming off a 23-point effort against Harding in the non-conference finale, Eaton poured in 24 points to lead A-State (7-7, 1-0) to the win over the defending Sun Belt Conference regular season champions. Grantham Gillard added 20 points while Ty Cockfield had 18. Salif Boudie registered his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Marcus Stroman had a game-high 25 points to lead Louisiana (9-5, 0-1).
Texas State 73, Georgia Southern 70
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Tre'Larenz Nottingham scored 24 points, Eric Terry added 14 and Texas State beat Georgia Southern 73-70 in a Sun Belt Conference opener Thursday night. Georgia Southern's Calvin Wishart, Quan Jackson and Tookie Brown each missed 3-point shots in the final seconds for the chance to tie. Nottingham's layup with 3:03 left gave the Bobcats (12-2) a 72-63 lead before the Georgia Southern (8-6) made a late run. Texas State led 43-37 at halftime and extended the lead with a 10-4 run out of the break.
Georgia State 63, UTA 58
ARLINGTON, Texas – Georgia State made its free throws down the stretch to earn a 63-58 win over UT Arlington to open Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday night at the College Park Center. Georgia State (10-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) was led by junior D’Marcus Simonds who finished with 15 points as one of three Panthers in double figures. Senior Devin Mitchell added 11 points, while fellow senior Malik Benlevi scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.