Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Senior Markus Crider scored a career-high 24 points and spurred a second half run to lead Georgia State to a 59-56 win over Texas State on Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena. The win was the 100^th for head coach Ron Hunter at Georgia State as he became just the third coach in program history to accomplish the feat.

Crider, who shot 10-of-14 from the floor, keyed a 13-0 second half run for the Panthers that took them from down seven to up six with6:18 to play. Crider scored nine points during the run as Georgia State held the Bobcats without a point for nearly eight minutes.

Georgia State (13-7, 6-5 Sun Belt) snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 10-1 at home this year. Texas State (9-10, 3-7 Sun Belt) lost for the fifth time in six games and for the third-straight time to the Panthers.

Hunter reached the 100-win plateau in just 154 games and will now look to catch Bob Reinhart who holds the school record of 107 wins before the end of the season.

“It was a good basketball game,” Hunter said. “We basically won by playing the type of basketball we have played all year. We grinded it out defensive. I thought Markus Crider played like a senior tonight and really stepped up. Texas State is one of the better defensive teams, but Markus found ways to work the ball inside and carried us today.”

Georgia State won for the 60^th time in the last 80 games dating back to Dec. 14, 2013 and improved to 35-2 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season.

Texas State took an early 11-8 with 13:07 to play in the first half following an Emani Gant jumper. Gant finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, but we held to just five points.

The Panthers responded with a 12-3 run, capped by a Jeremy Hollowell 3-pointer to lead 20-14 with just under 10 minutes to play, before the Bobcats knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game 20-20. Hollowell scored 11 points, the only other Panther to finish in double figures.

Georgia State went into the locker room leading 34-33 as Crider knocked down a jumper at the buzzer. The senior finished the half with 11 points, making 5-of-6 from the floor. For Crider, it was the 119^th game of his career, tying Devonta White for fifth on Georgia State’s all-time list. He grabbed four rebounds and is now just two shy of becoming just the 11^th Panther with 500 career rebounds.

As a team, the Panthers shot 48 percent from the floor and hit 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Texas State opened the game shooting 52 percent from the floor, but turned the ball over 10 times in the first 20 minutes. Georgia State held the Bobcats to just 9-of-25 shooting after the intermission.

Texas State scored the first six points of the second half and went on a 9-1 run to take a 42-35 lead with 16:37 to play before Georgia State responded with its run, led by Crider.

Redshirt-freshman Jeff Thomas added eight points in 18 minutes, while senior T.J. Shipes came off the bench to score six points and add five boards.

The Bobcats were led by Cameron Naylor who scored 15 points, while Ethan Montalvo added 14.