What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State built a 14 point lead and led by 11 early in the second half, but fell to first-place Little Rock on Thursday 57-49 in the GSU Sports Arena.
* Jordan Session earned his second start of the year and tied a career-high with 11 points.
* Georgia State will return to the court on Saturday hosting Arkansas State at 2:30 p.m.
ATLANTA-Despite holding an 11-point lead early in the second half, Georgia State's hot first-half shooting went cold and the Panthers fell to first place Little Rock 57-49 on Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena.
Redshirt-junior Jeremy Hollowell led Georgia State (13-11, 6-9 Sun Belt) with 12 points, but the Panthers lost for the seventh time in eight games, shooting just 5-of-22 from the floor in the second half.
Lis Shoshi led Little Rock (23-3, 13-2 Sun Belt) with a double-double of 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Marcus Johnson, Jr. added 14 points for the Trojans who shot 50 percent in the second half after hitting just 28.1 percent in the first half.
Sophomore Jordan Session tied a career-high with 11 points for the Panthers, while Isaiah Williams added 10 after making his first four shots.
“I thought our guys played hard and our young guys did some good things,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We got off to a pretty good start, but then we hit a wall against the first place team. This game was almost identical to the game at their place and in both, we made mistakes at the worst possible times.”
From the tip, Georgia State came out hot, taking an 8-2 lead just four minutes into the game as the Panthers knocked down four of their first five field goals. Georgia State pushed the lead to 15-6 before the first media timeout of the game with 12:37 to play.
A Williams 3-pointer with 11:28 to play pushed the lead to 18-6 as the redshirt-sophomore knocked down his first four shots, scoring all of his points in the first half.
Following a Jordan Session 3-pointer, just the second of his career, Georgia State pushed the lead to 29-15 with 4:16 to play. Session tied his career-high for points with 11 in just the first 16 minutes of the game after earning his second start of the year.
Despite holding the Panthers scoreless for the final 4:15 of the opening half, Georgia State still went into the locker room leading 29-20. Georgia State shot 52 percent in the half, knocking down 3-of-6 from 3-point range. The Trojans hit just 1-of-8 from 3-point range, but turned it around with 4-of-9 in the second half.
Trailing 33-23, Little Rock used a 6-0 run to cut Georgia State's lead to 33-29 with 16:27 to play. Another 6-0 run, capped by a lay-up and free throw by Josh Hagins, gave the Trojans their first lead of the second half, 35-34 with 14:57 remaining.
After Georgia State retook the lead 36-35, the Trojans pushed the lead to eight on a 7-0 run to lead 44-36 with 11:57 to play, their biggest of the game.
Georgia State cut the deficit to four on four different occasions, including 53-49 with 3:09 to play, but could get no closer.
Roger Woods added nine points and eight rebounds for Little Rock which has been among the top five in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll most of the year and has received votes in the AP poll.
Georgia State remain at home and host Arkansas State on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., live on ESPN3. Tickets can be purchased by calling 404-413-4020 or by visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com.
