Thursday, February 27
Georgia State 77, UT Arlington 49
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Manny Atkins tied a career high with 27 points and Georgia State took down Texas-Arlington 77-49 Thursday to earn at least a share of the regular season Sun Belt Conference title.
Georgia State (21-7, 14-1) holds a three-game lead over Western Kentucky in the conference standings. Each team has three conference games remaining.
The Panthers used a big second half to top Texas-Arlington (12-15, 7-8), erasing a halftime deficit and outscoring the Mavericks 48-15 in the second half. Atkins scored 17 of his points after the break, as the Panthers shot 59.3 percent from the field in the second half compared with 25 percent for Texas-Arlington.
Harrow added 15 points, 13 after half, for Georgia State. Markus Crider had 12 points and Devonta White scored 11.
Reger Dowell led the Mavericks with 18 points. Lonnie McClanahan had 12 points and 10 boards while Brandon Edwards added 12 points.
WKU 51, Texas State 50
SAN MARCOS, Texas -- George Fant scored 14 points Thursday night, including the game-winning bucket, as Western Kentucky rallied to beat Texas State 51-50
T.J. Price scored 11, Trency Jackson 10, and the Hilltoppers (19-9, 11-4 Sun Belt Conference) outshot Texas State 41.7 percent to 35 percent.
Western Kentucky opened with a 7-1 run, but Texas State (8-20, 4-11) replied with a 10-0 run. Jackson's jumper gave Western Kentucky a 22-20 edge, but the Bobcats scored five straight and led 25-22 at halftime.
Texas State opened the second half with an 11-2 run for a 36-24 lead, but the Hilltoppers stayed close then took a 45-44 lead on a layup by Chris Harrison-Docks. Fant's layup with 49 seconds to play made it 51-48. Wright hit two free throws, but Naiel Smith missed a layup with 4 seconds to play and the Hilltoppers held on for the win.
Joel Wright led the Bobcats with 15.
UALR 62, Troy 55
TROY, Ala. -- Ben Dillard scored 18 points and hit two late free throws to help UALR hold off Troy 62-55 on Thursday night.
UALR (13-15, 8-8 Sun Belt) never trailed and finished with 18 assists on 20 made field goals. Dillard was 4 of 8 from the field and sank all eight of his free throws. DeVonte Smith dished out six assists.
Troy (9-18, 4-11) was led by Tevin Calhoun with 16 points, while Hunter Williams and Jeff Mullahey added 12 apiece.
Dillard hit a layup and 3-pointer to grab an early 7-0 lead for UALR. Troy tied the score at 32 in the second half, but UALR countered with 15-4 surge to go up 47-36 with 9:35 remaining.
Troy pulled within three late and Williams couldn't hit a 3-pointer to tie it with 14 seconds left. Dillard and Josh Hagins each sank a pair of free throws to ice it.
UL Monroe 71, South Alabama 54
MONROE, La. -- Jayon James scored 19 points to lead Louisiana-Monroe to a 71-54 win over South Alabama on Thursday night.
ULM (9-14, 6-9 Sun Belt Conference) took control in the second half with a 10-3 run capped by a Tylor Ongwae layup that made it 45-36 with 16:07 to go, and then closed out the game with an 11-4 run to clinch the win.
Chinedu Amajoyi contributed 12 points and eight rebounds, Nick Coppola had 11 points, and Marvin Williams and Ongwae had 10 points apiece for the Warhawks, who shot 51 percent from the field in snapping a two-game skid. Ongwae also had nine rebounds.
South Alabama (9-19, 3-12) trailed just 35-33 at the break but couldn't keep pace in the second half.
Augustine Rubit led the Jaguars with 14 points and six rebounds, while Mychal Ammons added nine points and nine rebounds.