ATLANTA -- Toneari Lane tied his career high with 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with two minutes left, as Georgia State rallied from a 20-point first half deficit for a 77-70 win over Old Dominion Thursday at the GSU Convocation Center. The win improved the Panthers to 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Dwon Odom approached a triple double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and Jay'Den Turner grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds for his fourth-straight game in double digits. Leslie Nkereuwem added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Jamaine Mann scored 11 off the bench.
"Our guys never gave up the fight," head coach Jonas Hayes said. "We started the game as horrendously as you could, but we tell our guys every day to keep showing up, day after day, possession after possession. I thought we did a good job of that. Give ODU credit. They came out like their hair was on fire in the first half. They were running their offense with precision, and we weren't really in our gaps, we didn't have high hands, we didn't rebound. We had to get back to that in the second half, and boy, did we ever.
"I'm proud of our effort, and I think we took another step. Today, our team grew up a little more."
Georgia State (8-7, 3-1) fell behind by 20 points as the Monarchs (4-12, 0-4) went 7-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half. The Panthers trailed 41-21 with less than four minutes left in the first half but managed to cut their deficit to 12 at the intermission at 45-33. Lane started the run with a conventional 3-point play and then hit a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left.
"We said we wanted to get back to 10. To go into the half down by 12 didn't feel good, but we didn't lay down," Hayes said. "We've tried to create as many adverse situations for our guys as we could so that when you get into these types of games, you are able to handle it. And that's what we did.
In the second half, the Panthers steadily got closer, finally taking the lead on Lane's short jumper in the lane that put GSU up 65-64 with 5:20 to play. After Old Dominion answered on its next possession, Lucas Taylor completed a 3-point play for a 68-66 GSU lead with 4:24 left, and the Panthers never trailed again.
Old Dominion managed to tied the game at 70-all on a steal and layup with 2:17 left, but on Georgia State's next possession, Taylor found Lane on the wing and Lane drained his fifth 3-pointer of the game for a 73-70 lead with 1:44 left, sending the Panthers to the win.
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Odom had a one word answer for what led to the turnaround: "Defense," he said. "We guarded way better, and that led to us getting buckets on the offensive end. We got down by a lot, but we knew that as long we kept getting stops, we would make a comeback. We just kept believing in each other, the team was able to knock down some threes, we got to the paint, and we had a bunch of offensive rebounds, but it all started on the defensive end."
Georgia State hosts Georgia Southern Saturday at 5 p.m. at the GSU Convocation Center.
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Game Notes
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Dwon Odom notched his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, along with eight assists.
» Georgia State had a 47-34 edge on the boards.
» Georgia State turned the ball over eight times while dishing out 17 assists.
» Georgia State collected 16 offensive boards in the game.
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Toneari Lane led the Panthers with a game-high 23 points.
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Jay'Den Turner grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, his fourth straight game with double-figure rebounds.
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