CONWAY, S.C. — Coastal Carolina was unable to sustain a halftime advantage as Georgia State used a strong second-half shooting performance to secure an 89–71 Sun Belt Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center.
The Chanticleers (8–8, 1–3 Sun Belt) led 34–25 at the break and opened the second half with a jumper by
AJ Dancler to push the margin to 11, but the Panthers responded with a decisive run fueled by perimeter shooting to shift momentum.
Coastal controlled the contest for the opening 23 minutes before Georgia State (5–11, 2–2) erased the deficit with a barrage of 3-pointers. The Panthers tied the game at 64-all with 7:35 remaining and took the lead for good at the 6:17 mark, closing the game on a 25–7 run.
Rasheed Jones led Coastal Carolina with 18 points, while Dancler added 16. The Chanticleers held a 38–32 edge on the glass and finished with 16 offensive rebounds.
Georgia State connected on 14 of 15 3-point attempts in the second half to finish with an HTC Center record-tying 17 made triples. The Panthers shot 76.0 percent (19 of 25) after halftime and finished at 49.2 percent overall. Malachi Brown led all scorers with 23 points, while Trey Scott III and Jelani Hamilton added 22 apiece.
Coastal Carolina shot 39.3 percent from the floor and committed 12 turnovers, while Georgia State limited itself to seven.
The Chanticleers return to action Thursday, Jan. 8, when they host Old Dominion at 7 p.m. inside the HTC Center.