Smith leads Louisiana Monroe past Georgia State 82-76

MONROE, La. (AP) — Daishon Smith scored 36 points with eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals, and had seven points in a 9-0 run inside the final two minutes to lift Louisiana Monroe to an 82-76 win over Sun Belt Conference leader Georgia State on Wednesday night.

There were seven ties and eight lead changes and neither team led by double figures. A layup by Malik Benlevi and a Jeff Thomas 3-pointer put the Panthers up with 2:04 to play. Smith answered with a 3-pointer at 1:37 and, after a Georgia State miss, had a 4-point play at 1:07 to make it 80-74.

Michael Ertel added two free throws after another miss to clinch it. The Warhawks lost the first meeting 74-73.

Smith had 22 points in the second half and finished 11 for 11 from the foul line, where ULM (12-10, 5-5), which snapped a three-game losing streak, was 21 of 24.

D'Marcus Simonds led Georgia State (16-7, 7-3), which is a half-game ahead of three teams, with 18 points. Devin Mitchell added 15 for the Panthers who were 7 of 10 from the line.