Game 273 - Georgia State at South Alabama

January 30 at Mitchell Center in Mobile, AL
American Sports Network

There's nothing quite as horrifying & eventually gratifying about going on the road, losing a 16-point lead, committing 18 turnovers and 21 fouls, shooting 62 percent from the free-throw line and still escaping with a victory.

GSU did all those things on Monday, capturing its sixth straight, 83-80, and they did it mainly because it has D'Marcus Simonds and Jeremy Hollowell.

Each time I write about the Panthers on this site I find new ways to talk about how impressive is the freshman Simonds. He had just four points at halftime (though he did hand out four assists), but came alive in the second, taking over the offense and finishing with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting. You don't hear Simonds' name at all when discussing the top freshmen in the country, but I think you're going to start to.

Hollowell hit a handful of baskets through the first 12 or so minutes of the game, but seemed to get exceedingly frustrated as the game went on.

But the senior was great down the stretch as he hit a bucket, then assisted on a Malik Benlevi 3-pointer at the three-minute mark to give the visitors a five-point cushion. South Alabama refused to go away, so Hollowell's contested, banked-in three with 45 seconds to go put GSU back up 76-73.

The Panthers were awful from the line through the first 39:44, but a perfect 6-for-6 - Hollowell had two to finish with 20 points - over the final 16 seconds to slither out of Mobile with another win.

GSU, now 7-2 in the Sun Belt, moved into a three-way tie with Georgia Southern and Arkansas State for first place.

The teams played two extremely close games this season, both GSU victories. Back on January 7 in Atlanta, Devin Mitchell capped an 8-0, game-ending run with a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 78-77 win.