Georgia St. tops Georgia Southern for Sun Belt 1st round bye (Mar 04, 2017)

By AP
Published

ATLANTA (AP) D'Marcus Simonds scored 21 points, Jeremy Hollowell totaled 15 points, 12 boards and five assists, and Georgia State outlasted Georgia Southern for a 72-67 win in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday.

Georgia State clinched a first-round bye in next week's Sun Belt Conference tournament.

The Panthers led 70-67 with 18 seconds left after Malik Benlevi made his first of two free throws. He missed the second, but Hollowell scampered for the loose ball and got the rebound. Hollowell made a pair from the line with 13 seconds left for a 72-67 lead.

Jeff Thomas went 4 for 4 from the 3-point line for Georgia State (19-11, 12-6), which finished 11 of 19 from long range (58 percent). Georgia Southern went 11 for 35 (31).

Ike Smith finished with 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting for Georgia Southern (18-13, 11-7). Tookie Brown added 11 points.

The Panthers outrebounded Georgia Southern 45-21.