Kane Williams
Louisiana Athletics
58
Winner Georgia St. GSU 11-10,5-5 Sun Belt
49
Appalachian St. APP 16-11,10-4 Sun Belt
Winner
Georgia St. GSU
11-10,5-5 Sun Belt
58
Final
49
Appalachian St. APP
16-11,10-4 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Georgia St. GSU 28 30 58
Appalachian St. APP 16 33 49

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Panthers Knock Off First Place Appalachian State 58-49

BOONE, N.C.-Georgia State played one of its best defensive games of the season and earned a 58-49 win over first-place Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Convocation Center.

Georgia State (11-10, 5-5 Sun Belt) won for the fifth time in the last six games while holding Appalachian State (16-11, 10-4 Sun Belt) to just 30.6 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounding the Mountaineers 44-33.

Junior Jalen Thomas led the Panthers with 16 points and five rebounds, shooting 7-of-9 from the floor. His two made free throws with just over a minute to play proved to be a huge momentum swing for Georgia State.

Senior Kane Williams added 12 points and four rebounds. He moved ahead of Terrence Brandon and into fourth place on Georgia State's all-time scoring list with 1,485 career points.

Seniors Justin Roberts and Corey Allen each scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively, while fellow senior Eliel Nsoseme pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.

Appalachian State was led by Justin Forrest and Adrian Delph who each scored 12 points. Michael Almonacy just missed a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.

A 3-pointer from Williams helped the Panthers race out to a quick 11-6 lead just over eight minutes into the game.

In a low scoring first half, Nelson Phillips knocked down a 3-pointer with 8:30 to play to push Georgia State's lead into double figures for the first time, 18-8.

Allen, coming off the bench for a second straight game, got hot and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, the second giving Georgia State a 28-13 lead with just over a minute to play.

Georgia State went into the locker room with a 28-16 lead after holding the Mountaineers to just 21.4 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes while also dominating the boards 26-16.

Appalachian State cut Georgia State's lead to nine, 34-25, with 16:04 to play, but on the next possession, Williams made a lay-up and got fouled. Mountaineer head coach Dustin Kearns picked up a technical foul and Williams hit all three free throws to give GSU a 39-25 lead with just over 15 minutes to play.

The Mountaineers responded with an 11-2 run to cut Georgia State's lead to just five, 41-36, with 10:29 to play.

However, Georgia State settled down and a hook shot by Nsoseme pushed the Panthers back ahead by double digits, 49-39, with 4:45 to play.

Momentum quickly swung in Appalachian State's favor as Almonacy made a lay-up and was fouled by Allen. Allen was also assessed a technical foul and the Mountaineers made both free throws to cut Georgia State's lead to 49-45 with 1:36 to play.

On the next possession, Thomas knocked down a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six and Appalachian State would get no closer than closer than five points again.

Game Notes
  • Georgia State and Appalachian St. split the regular season series with each team winning on the road.
  • GSU has won 103 regular season Sun Belt games since the start of the 2013-14 season, the most in the league, while finishing in the top two of the final regular season conference standings six times.
  • Georgia State has a 40-25 (.615) record in the month of February since the start of the 2013-14 season.
  • Kane Williams became just the third player in program history with 200 or more steals. He now has 201 and is just 11 shy of Rodney Hamilton's school record of 212.
  • Williams made his 103rd career start, just two shy of Rodney Hamilton's school record of 105.
  • Williams has now moved into the top 20 in Sun Belt Conference history with 460 assists.
  • Jalen Thomas is now tied for 7th on GSU's all-time blocked shots list with 101, more than halfway to Zavian Smith's school record of 182.
  • Since 2013-14, GSU has won more games (180) than any other NCAA Division I team in Georgia.
 
Georgia State return home to start a two-game series with in-state rival Georgia Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on WRAS-FM 88.5.
 
Print Friendly Version