ATLANTA, Ga. – Down as many as 14 and trailing by nine at halftime, Little Rock (23-3, 13-2) used a 14-1 run early in the second half to build a lead it would not relinquish in a 57-49 win over Georgia State (13-11, 6-9 SBC) at GSU Sports Arena on Thursday. The Trojans' 23
rd win matches the program record, originally set by the 1987-88 team, for regular-season victories.
"Give Georgia State a lot of credit – I thought they played great," head coach
Chris Beard said after the win. "They were really good early so we just had to weather the storm. Give our players a lot of credit in the second half. We played a good offensive game, shooting 50 percent. And defensively, I thought we locked down and played Little Rock defense."
The win was Little Rock's 11
th true road win of the season, which matches a program record and is good enough for second-most nationally in 2015-16.
Daniel Green's tip-in at the 16:57 mark started the 14-1 run. Green's basket was followed by a jumper from
Mareik Isom. After GSU's Crider made 1 of 2 at the line, a 3-pointer by
Marcus Johnson Jr. and 3-point play by
Josh Hagins gave Little Rock its first lead of the game at 35-34 with 14:57 to play. Johnson was fouled in transition and made both free throws to cap the Trojans' 14-1 spurt.
The Panthers pulled within four four times in the final 10 minute, the last time coming on a 3-pointer from Austin Donaldson with 3:09 left. After empty possessions from both team's
Lis Shoshi's 3-pointer from the corner pushed the margin back to seven with 38 seconds remaining.
Little Rock's defense limited Georgia State to 38.3 percent shooting on the night, and just 22.7 percent in the second half. The Panthers made just five shots after halftime.
Thursday's win is Little Rock's sixth of the season overcoming a double-digit deficit.
Johnson led Little Rock with 14 points while knocking down three 3-pointers. Shoshi posted a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 16 boards.
Roger Woods nearly added his own double-double, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds.
At 23-3 overall, the Trojans are tied with No. 1 Villanova and No. 8 Xavier for the best record in the nation.
The Trojans trailed by as many as 14 in the opening half as Georgia State shot 52.0 percent from the floor and made three 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes. The Trojans defense ended the half on a strong note, holding Georgia State to just 1 of its last 7 field goal attempts.
Little Rock is back in action Saturday at Georgia Southern. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
