The Georgia State basketball team took another big step forward in its development on Thursday.
The Panthers spotted Old Dominion a 20-point lead in the first half, but roared back to beat the Monarchs 77-70 at the GSU Convocation Center. The victory was the team’s second straight and improved its record to 3-1 in Sun Belt play, equaling the total number of conference wins from a year ago.
“These guys are finding new ways to invent cardiac arrest,” Georgia State coach Jonas Hayes said. “But I’ll tell you this, our guys never gave up the fight.”
Georgia State (8-7, 3-1) was led by Toneari Lane with 23 points, matching his season high. Dwon Odom had 14 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double, and added eight assists.
Leslie Nkereuwem and Jamaine Mann each scored 11. Jay’Den Turner scored nine points, all in the second half, and had 15 rebounds, his career high at Georgia State and his third consecutive game with double-digit rebounds.
Old Dominion (4-12, 0-4) continues to play without head coach Jeff Jones, the former University of Virginia player and coach, who suffered a heart attack on Dec. 20. The Monarchs got 19 points and nine assists from freshman Vasean Allette and 17 points from Tyrone Williams.
“We guarded way better than we have and we trusted one another,” Odom said. “You saw how chaotic it got. That’s how our practices are. The coaches make it hard for us and it got real hard.”
Georgia State trailed by 12 at halftime but kept pecking away until finally taking the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Lane with 1:44 remaining.
“My teammates trust me,” Lane said. “I felt like I was open and I work on that shot every day, so I just took it and it went in.”
Credit: Jason Allen
Credit: Jason Allen
After getting a stop, Odom extended the lead to five points with a pair of free throws with 45 seconds left.
GSU’s defense forced Old Dominion to work deep in the shot clock before getting a shot, which was missed, and Turner finished it off with two free throws with seven seconds left.
“Coming out in the second half, we were able to stay together, move the ball on offense,” Odom said. “We had a great feeling that as long as we got stops, we will make a comeback. Toneari was able to knock down some more 3s and we had a bunch of offensive rebounds. But it all started on the defensive end.”
Lane made five 3-point baskets, three of them in the second half.
Things went south early for Georgia State. Old Dominion used a 15-2 run to take an 18-7 lead, then later added a 15-3 run to go ahead 26-10. The Monarchs built their lead to 20 (41-21) after making 10 of their first 17 shots and six of their first eight 3-pointers.
“We started the game as horrendously as you can but, but we tell our guys to keep showing up possession after possession, day after day and bring the fight,” Hayes said. “I thought they did a good job of that.”
Georgia State made the game manageable by outscoring ODU 9-2 over the final 2:15 of the first half and cut the lead to 45-33 at the break.
“Being down by 12 didn’t feel good, but I did think we didn’t lay down,” Hayes said. “I tell our guys, you’re going to have some adversity – and we’ve been creating adversity for those dudes in our locker room since June 5. How do you acquire the skill of overcoming adversity? You’ve got to be in it and we’ve tried to create as many adverse situations with our group, so when you get in these types of situations you’re able to handle it. And that’s what we did.”
Georgia State plays at home again on Saturday at 5 p.m. against rival Georgia Southern. The teams split their series a year ago.
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