Georgia State men’s basketball falls to Green Bay, 78-61

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Leading 62-60 with 4:32 to play, Green Bay finished the game on a 16-1 run to earn a 78-61 win over Georgia State on Saturday afternoon at the Resch Center.

Junior R.J. Hunter led the Panthers with 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, but went just 1-of-8 from 3-point range. He added three assists in 38 minutes.

Senior Ryan Harrow added 14 points, all in the first half, finishing the game with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Harrow and Hunter, the No. 2 scoring duo in the country, averaging 41.4 points, were held to 33 points on 14-of-37 shooting.

Georgia State finished non-conference play 7-4 and will open defense of its Sun Belt Conference championship on Tuesdayhosting UL Monroe in the Sports Arena at approx. 7 p.m. It was just Georgia State’s seventh loss in the last 36 games dating back to last season.

Green Bay (10-3) earned revenge over the Panthers for a Dec. 4, 72-48 loss to Georgia State in Atlanta. Carrington Love led all scorers with 28 points. Both teams entered the game ranked in the top 12 in CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25 and top 40 in the NCAA RPI.

“When you come on the road, you know that you have to play to a certain level and unfortunately we did not do that today,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We played okay in spurts, but you have to do better than that over the course of 40 minutes. That has been our struggle in our four losses on the road this year.”

Green Bay took an early 18-14 lead with 11:33 to play in the first half before Georgia State responded with a 15-0 run over six and half minutes to lead 29-18 with 4:51 to play in the opening half.

The Phoenix responded with a 17-6 run to tie the game at 35-35 before a Hunter jumper before the half sent the Panthers into the locker room with a 37-35 lead.

Georgia State shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, but were held to just 32.1 percent in the second half and 15.4 percent from 3-point range for the game.

With the score tied 42-42 early in the second half, Green Bay went on a 7-0 run to take a 49-42 lead with 12:59 to play.

Georgia State responded and tied the game 51-51 before taking a 58-57 lead with 5:59 to play. It was the Panthers last lead of the game. The two teams combined for nine lead changes and seven ties.

Junior T.J. Shipes added seven points and six rebounds for the Panthers, while junior Markus Crider scored six and pulled down six boards.

Naismith Top 50 Award Watch List member Keifer Sykes was held to 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting for Green Bay. Jordan Fouse added 14 points and seven assists for the home team.