MACON, Ga.-Led by 16 points from both Damon Wilson and Corey Allen, along with stellar first half defense Georgia State earned a 73-61 win over in-state foe Mercer on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.

Georgia State (6-3) pushed its winning streak to five-straight games and defeated Mercer (4-6) for the 18^th time in the last 21 match-ups.
Wilson went 7-of-11 from the floor to go along with five rebounds while Allen matched the senior going 6-of-12 from the floor including three 3-pointers. Allen, in his first year playing for the Panthers, scored the 1,000^th point of his career.

Mercer got 14 points from both Djordje Dimitrijevic and Victor Bafutto but was held to just 35.1 percent shooting.

"It was a really good win for us and I'm really proud of the defensive effort our guys came out with," head coach Rob Lanier said. "That was the key to the game today as I didn't think we were great on offense. We keep talking about discipline and I thought we had some chances to put the game away down the stretch and we made too many mistakes. We guarded the 3-point line well and we were able to hold off a good team in need of a win."

Mercer missed its first nine field goals before Patrick Urey was able to make a free throw as the Panthers took an early 7-0 lead.

Georgia State went ahead 13-1 before the Bears finally made their first field goal with 11:31 to play in the half. The Bears missed 16 of their first 17 shots and the Panthers took an early 20-5 lead.

Leading 22-13 Georgia State used a 6-0 run to go ahead 28-13 with 2:35 to play and went into the locker room with a 31-18 lead. The Panthers held Mercer to just 18.8 percent shooting in the first half while forcing the Bears into 10 turnovers before the break.

Trailing by 16 early in the second half, Mercer used a 6-0 run to cut Georgia State's lead to just 10 with 16:08 to play. The Bears would get as close as seven points multiple times midway thru the second half but could get no closer.

A steal and fast break lay-up by Allen with 6:08 to play gave the Panthers a 60-49 lead and the 1000^th point of his career.

Georgia State went back ahead by double figures with 4:18 to play and Mercer was never able to get closer than 10 points again.

Junior Kane Williams added 12 points and five rebounds for the Panthers, while redshirt-sophomore Justin Roberts finished with 13 points and six assists.

Freshman Joe Jones III came off the bench to score eight points and pulled down three rebounds for the Panthers which shot 47.4 percent from the floor and 9-of-18 from 3-point range.

Ethan Stair just missed a double-double for Mercer finished with 13 points and eight rebounds playing all 40 minutes.

Notes:

• Three Panthers were playing in a "home" game on Saturday as the trio hale from the Macon area. Redshirt-junior Chris Clerkley is from nearby Perry, Ga. (Perry HS), junior Josh Linder hails from Kathleen, Ga. (Veterans HS), and sophomore Nelson Phillips is from Warner Robins, Ga. (Warner Robins HS).
• With a 3-pointer today, Georgia State has made at least one 3-pointer in 757 games dating back to Feb. 18, 1995.
• Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Panthers have won 140 games, the most of any NCAA Division 1 program in the state of Georgia. Mercer has the third-most wins in the state since that time with 114, trailing Georgia by just one win.

Georgia State will now take 12 days off for final exams before returning to the court on Dec. 19, to face UT Arlington in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both schools at 7 p.m. The Panthers and Mavericks have met for each of the last two Sun Belt Conference tournament titles with GSU coming out on top in each.