Troy Ends Georgia State’s winning streak at 14
TROY, Ala. — Georgia State overcame a 13-point second half deficit to tie it late before Troy pulled away for an 85-81 victory at Trojan Arena on Saturday night. The loss snapped Georgia State’s 14-game win streak, the sixth-longest in the nation entering the day.
Sophomore R.J. Hunter finished with a team-high 26 points, scoring the 1,000th-point of his career early in the second half, making him the 18th-player in program history to reach the milestone. The son of head coach Ron Hunter accomplished the feat in just 55 games, the second quickest player in GSU history.
Georgia State (17-7, 10-1 Sun Belt) had not lost since Dec. 7. The loss also snapped a seven-game road win streak which was tied for the longest in program history.
Troy (9-15, 4-8 Sun Belt) won for the second time in three games and for the second-straight season against the Panthers in Trojan Arena.
Hunter finished the game 8-of-17 from the floor, hitting 5-of-11 from 3-point range.
Georgia State entering the game the third-best free throw team in the country, shooting 77.8-percent from the line. However, the Panthers knocked down just 18-of-26 (69.2-percent) which proved to be the difference.
“Obviously I am disappointed with the loss and that the streak came to an end, but if it was going to come to an end I would rather it end on the road,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “I give Troy a lot of credit. They came out, made their shots a played a very good basketball game.
“The good thing is that we get to go home for three games this week. I have said for us to win a championship, we have to win at home and we will get three chances to defend our home court this week. I look forward to our fans giving us a great home court advantage.”
The Panthers trailed by 13-points with 12:03 to play in the game before mounting a comeback to tie it at 75-75 on a putback by sophomore Markus Crider with 2:41 to play. Crider finished the game with four points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.
From there, Troy finished the game on a 10-6 run, making six free throws down the stretch.
Senior Manny Atkins inched closer to 1,000-points for his career with 18 points, four rebounds and three steals before fouling out in the second half.
Redshirt-junior Ryan Harrow added 15 points and six assists, while senior Devonta White scored 11 second-half points. Harrow is just 16-points shy of 1,000 for his career entering Monday.
Jeff Mullahey, who entered the game averaging 8.5 points for Troy, finished with a game-high 27 on 8-of-12 shooting, knocking down 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Troy finished the game making 12 3-pointers, as Tevin Calhoun added 20 points, making 4 3-pointers. Antoine Myers just missed a double-double for Troy, scoring 15 points and pulling down nine rebounds.
Troy took an early 12-10 lead, before going on an 8-0 run with 10 minutes to play in the first half and built a 10-point lead, its biggest of the first half.
Trailing 25-15 with 8:51 to play, Georgia State responded with a 14-5 run, including a pair of 3-pointers by Atkins, to cut the Trojan lead to 30-29 with 4:09 to play.
The Trojans pushed the lead to 39-32 at the half, outrebounding the Panthers 22-9 in the opening period.
Georgia State will return to action on Monday against Texas State in the GSU Sports Arena at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 1-866-GA-STATE or visiting GeorgiaStateSports.com.
