Georgia Southern Falls, and Other Scores from the Sun Belt

It was a good day for road teams in the Sun Belt on Saturday.

Of the six games played, four were won by the visitors.  The big story, though was a team that held serve at home.  South Alabama handed Georgia Southern its first conference loss.

Here's what happened around the league.

SOUTH ALABAMA 78, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 66--Nick Stover's layup started an 18-4 run enabling the Jaguars (10-11, 3-5 Sun Belt) to pull away in the final six minutes.

Georgia Southern (14-7, 7-1) had a 52-40 lead before South Alabama rallied to get back in the game.  Stover's layup gave the Jags the lead for good.  Ken Williams added 15 points and eight assists for South Alabama.  Tookie Brown led the Eagles with 23 points.

UTA 83, APPALACHIAN STATE 67--Kevin Hervey had 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead four Mavericks in double figures.  UTA (16-5, 6-2 Sun Belt) finally took the lead for good with about ten minutes remaining and then padded its lead from there.  Kaelon Wilson, Jalen Jones and Drew Charles also scored in double figures.  Ronshad Shabazz had 33 points including eight from beyond the arc for the Mountaineers (6-13, 1-7).

TEXAS STATE 52, COASTAL CAROLINA 50--Nijal Pearson hit a bucket with 17 seconds left and Colton Ray-St. Cyr missed a short shot out of a time out with three seconds on the clock to give the Bobcats (12-8, 5-3 Sun Belt) the road win.  Kavin Gilder-Tillbury led Texas State with 18 points.  Elijah Wilson had 68 for CCU (9-12, 4-4)  The Chanticleers have lost three straight.

ARKANSAS STATE 73, ULM 63--Make it four in a row for Arkansas State as the Red Wolves (15-6, 6-2 Sun Belt) hit 12-22 from long distance in the come from behind win.  Rashad Lindsey had 15 points and Connor Kern had a dozen off the bench.  Arkansas State opened the second half on an 8-0 run and never trailed again.  Nick Coppola led three Warhawks in double figures with 19 points.  ULM (6-15, 0-8) has lost eight in a row.

GEORGIA STATE 78, TROY 72--Freshman D'Marcus Simonds tied a season high with 26 points to lead the Panthers (13-7, 6-2 Sun Belt) to the victory.  Georgia State broke open a tight game with a 7-0 run, taking a 67-57 lead with 3:50 left.  Troy never got closer than four the rest of the way.  Jeremy Hollowell scored 14 points and added eight rebounds for GSU.  Troy (11-11, 3-5) was led by Wesley Pearson with 24 points.

LOUISIANA 88, LITTLE ROCK 82--Frank Bartley IV led six players with 20 points and freshman Jerekius Davis scored a career high 17 as the Cajuns (14-7, 4-4 Sun Belt) raced out to a 20 point halftime lead and withstood a 14-0 run by Little Rock late in the game.  The Cajuns led 80-58 with four and a half minutes to go but didn't get another field goal and suffered seven turnovers down the stretch.  But Louisiana went 8-8 from the free throw line in the final :44 to seal the win.  The Trojans (12-9, 3-5) got 26 points from Marcus Johnson, Jr.