Georgia State men’s basketball earns home win over Southern Miss, 68-55

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

Behind a season-high 27 points from senior guard Ryan Harrow, the Georgia State men’s basketball team earned a 68-55 home win over Southern Mississippi Sunday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.

The win improved Georgia State’s record to 7-3 while the Golden Eagles dropped to 5-5. It was the Panthers’ 16th-straight home win.

Harrow hit five three-pointers, which was also a career-high. Overall, the Panthers made eight out of 24 three-pointer attempts and 42.9 percent from the field in the win.

Georgia State’s RJ Hunter battled flu-like symptoms through the entire contest, finished with 13 points, five rebounds and a game-high seven assists in 31 minutes of action. Ryann Green had a career-high and team-high six rebounds for the Panthers.

“This was a really good win for us,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We really needed a bounce-back win after Wednesday night. With R.J. sick, we needed someone to step up and Ryan Harrow did that. To be honest, everyone on the team stepped up and played really well this afternoon.

“As I have said, everyone wants to talk about our offensive, but once again, I thought it was our defense that stepped up big today. We forced 22 turnovers and scored nearly half of our points from those turnovers. When you get do that, you are not going to lose too many games.”

Chip Armelin had a team-high 16 points for Southern Miss and Norville Carey grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Paced by a 12-3 run late in the first half, Georgia State took a 38-29 halftime lead into the locker room. Harrow had a game-high 19 points for the Panthers in the first half. Overall, Georgia State shot 45.5 percent from the field in the half, making six out of 14 three-pointer attempts.

Armelin scored a team-high 14 points for the Golden Eagles at halftime while Rasham Suarez had six. Southern Miss shot 50 percent in the first half, converting seven of 14 three-pointers.