CONWAY, S.C.-Georgia State nearly overcame a 32-point second half deficit before falling to Coastal Carolina 95-82 on Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center. D'Marcus Simonds scored a season-high 31 points for the Panthers who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.
Georgia State (19-9, 10-5 Sun Belt) was looking to secure its 20th win for a third consecutive season. Coastal Carolina (13-13, 7-7 Sun Belt) snapped a four-game losing streak as Tyrell Gumbs-Frater scored a team-high 29 points.
Redshirt-junior Damon Wilson spurred the Panthers' second-half comeback with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while sophomore Kane Williams added 12 and freshman Nelson Phillips scored 10.
“Obviously we are disappointed with today's loss, but I am proud of the way our guys fought back,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “They never gave up in the second half and we were able to cut Coastal's lead to single digits. If a couple of shots could have fallen, maybe the result would have been different.”
All-Sun Belt performer Zac Cuthbertson and Tommy Burton each scored 15 points for the Chanticleers who went 14-of-39 from 3-point range, including 10 in the first half.
Coastal Carolina jumped on the Panthers early taking a 14-2 lead just four minutes into the game as Ajay Sanders knocked down three 3-pointers.
The Chanticleers later used a 13-2 run to push the lead to 32-16 with 7:39 remaining before pushing the lead to 25 points and leading 58-33 going into the locker room. Coastal shot 54.1 percent from the floor while holding the Panthers to 40.0 percent shooting and just 2-of-9 from 3-point range before the break.
The Chanticleers pushed the lead to as big as 70-38 with 13:45 to play before the Panthers attempted to mount the comeback.
Starting with a 10-0 run, Georgia State cut the lead to 70-48 with 10:50 to play. The run was pushed to 20-3 on a 3-pointer by Wilson to cut the deficit to 15 with just under eight minutes to play.
The Panthers cut the lead to 76-65 on a 3-pointer by Simonds with 6:38 to play. Minutes later, Georgia State cut the lead to single digits on a lay-up by Williams and would do it again on a Thomas lay-up with 3:40 remaining. Unfortunately, that is as close as the Panthers could get.
Senior Malik Benlevi finished with seven points to move within seven of 1,000 for his career. He also moved into a tie with Anton Reese for eighth on Georgia State's career 3-pointers made list with 165.
Georgia State will return home for the final homestand of the season beginning with Arkansas State on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena.
