Sometimes it's nice to just let your best player and the conference's reigning player of the year just take over.
That's what happened Wednesday's as GSU's D'Marcus Simonds was excellent, scoring a game-high 27 points in a 77-63 win.
Simonds, who moved into No. 1 on the school's all-time field goals made list with nine (on 19 attempts), added seven rebounds and six assists in helping snap a brief, two-game losing streak.
It was just a one-point halftime lead before the hosts started the second by scoring the first eight points - Jeff Thomas hit a three and a lay-in, the last of which made it 42-33 and forced a Troy timeout less than three minutes into the half. The lead grew to as much as 18 on one of five Simonds' 3-pointers at the 12:11 mark.
Thomas and Devin Mitchell, the top two outside threats on the team, combined to go 6-for-7 from behind the arc and the Panthers hit 11 as a team. The defense also had 10 steals and forced 19 turnovers, and when that's happening at one end and the threes are falling at the other, GSU is difficult to beat.
The Panthers, now 17-8 overall and 8-4 in the Sun Belt, caught a huge break when Troy's Jordon Varnado missed his third consecutive game with an injury. Varnado has been a problem for the Panthers for the last two seasons of his nearly-2,000 point career, which thankfully ends in March. The senior scored 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left in a 77-75 win back on January 19.
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