January 27 at GSU Sports Arena
Georgia State had been 0-of-5 from the free-throw line before D'Marcus Simonds stepped to the stripe and knocked down four straight over the final 20 seconds as the Panthers escaped with a 54-50 victory.
It was a defensive struggle as Texas State, top-15 nationally in scoring defense, held GSU to its lowest point total since a 71-56 loss to Prairie View A&M on November 22 which from this point on we shall never, ever again speak of.
Meanwhile, GSU's top-20 nationally in field goal percentage defense & held the Bobcats to 35% shooting and a 2-of-16 performance from three.
Simonds did some great things just before those clutch free throws. Texas State led 48-46 when Simonds made a pair of difficult baskets in the lane to put GSU in front 50-48 with just under a minute to go. GSU's defense then came up with the stop of the day, forcing a shot clock violation with 25 seconds left. Texas State hadn't yet reached the double-bonus, so Simonds was faced with a pair of one-and-one situations and he calmly sent the Panthers to their seventh straight win.
A three-step guide to how you end up winning only 54-50 when you shoot 49% from the field and hold your opponent to 35%
1. you turn the ball over 16 times (Texas State had 11 (!) steals)
2. you give up 12 offensive rebounds, including three on one possession with under three minutes to play, which didn't even end up leading to points for Texas State, but still: someone grab a defensive rebound
3. two players - Simonds (20 points) and Jeff Thomas (14 points) - score more than half your points
But a win to move to 7-2 in Sun Belt play (after starting 0-2) is all that really matters.
500 - Texas State women at Georgia State
January 27 at GSU Sports Arena
The Georgia State women didn't play a good second half at all, but I'm not sure a well-played final 20 minutes would've helped with the way Toshua Leavitt and Taeler Deer performed on Saturday.
Leavitt was 10-of-16 from three-point range to tie a career high with 34 points (the 10 threes also equaled her career-best) and Deer handed out a career-best 14 assists to go along with 19 points in the Bobcats' 83-63 victory.
GSU led at the break 36-35, but the visitors from San Marcos hit half of their 16 threes in the second half, led by the incredible Leavitt (6-of-9). In fact, Madison Newby's free throws with 1:47 left in the third put the Panthers up 51-50, but three straight bad defensive possessions followed, including the inability to locate Leavitt on a pair of 3-pointers, and a lay-in by Ti'Aria Pitts with three seconds to play made it a 58-51 game. The hosts never recovered in the final period.
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