Sikes nets 31, leads South Alabama over Georgia State 86-64 (Dec 29, 2017)

By AP
Published

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Rodrick Sikes made 6 of 10 from 3-point range and scored 31 points, and South Alabama opened Sun Belt Conference play with an 86-64 win over Georgia State on Friday night.

Jordan Andrews made 5 of 8 from the arc and scored 19 and Josh Ajayi had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Jaguars (7-6).

South Alabama had scoring runs of 12-0, 15-2 and 10-0 in the second half which resulted in a 69-43 lead with seven minutes to go. The Panthers (9-5) got no closer than 20 the rest of the way.

Georgia State opened the game with an 11-5 lead but South Alabama had a 9-0 run to take lead, and went in front for good at 21-19 on Herb McGee's layup with six minutes left in the first half.

D'Marcus Simonds led the Panthers with 27 points. Devin Mitchell and Jeff Thomas added 11 each.