Georgia State Basketball: Panthers Cruise Past Texas State, 68-41

ATLANTA — Ryan Harrow scored 17 points, including the 1,000th point of his career, as Georgia State cruised past Texas State 68-41 Monday night at the GSU Sports Arena.

In a game rescheduled due to last week’s winter storm, Georgia State (18-7, 11-1 Sun Belt) had four players in double figures as Manny Atkins scored 15 points, R.J. Hunter had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, and Curtis Washington added 10.

The Panthers held Texas State (7-18, 3-9 Sun Belt) to just 29 percent shooting from field. For much of the game, the GSU record for fewest points allowed (33 vs. Howard on Nov. 21, 2009) appeared in jeopardy as Texas State had just 24 points with under six minutes to play. Still the Bobcats’ point total equals the fourth-lowest by a Georgia State opponent.

One game after Hunter eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone, Harrow was 6-for-11 from the field and 5-for-5 at the free throw line to raise his career point total to 1,001, including 443 this season at Georgia State. Hunter moved ahead of Chris Collier and Travis Williams and into 16 th on the Panthers all-time scoring list.

Atkins nearly reached the millennium mark as well as he now has 993 points in his career.

“I am really proud of our guys as I thought it was a good comeback game,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We wanted to make a statement defensively tonight. We were embarrassed by the result on Saturday night as that is not the way we play. The last 48 hours in our program have not been good, but just before we walked out to the floor, I told our team that blessings come in different ways and tonight we got back to playing GSU-basketball.”

The game started slowly for both teams, who combined to hit just one of their first 16 field goal attempts. Georgia State scored its first basket at the 16:39 mark, while the Bobcats didn’t score until 13:41 remained in the first half.

Texas State led 7-6 after a pair of free throws by Joel Wright at 9:59 before Georgia State started to take control, outscoring the Bobcats 21-8 over the next 10 minutes to take a 28-14 halftime lead. The 14 points by Texas State in the first half are just one more than the GSU record for fewest points allowed in a half. Ron Hunter’s first Georgia State team in 2011-12 held William and Mary to 13 points in the first half.

In the second half, the Panthers shot 61 percent from the field.

Tonight’s game was the second of four contests in eight days for the Panthers, so Hunter emptied his bench in the second half, including a career-high four points by defensive specialist Ryann Green.

Senior Devonta White was held to just two points, but dished out eight assists as the Panthers finished the game with 14.

Kavin Tilbury and Victor Bermudez led Texas State with seven points apiece.

Georgia State will continue its home-stand on Thursday facing UL Monroe in the Sports Arena at 7 p.m.