Saturday’s Scores From the Sun Belt

There were some great individual performances in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday.  And, that led to some exciting games.

ULM defeated Louisiana 99-95.  You can read Lane Johnson's story on the game here.

In other games:

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 88, SOUTH ALABAMA 86 (OT)--Tookie Brown scored 26 points and Georgia Southern got a stop on the game's final possession to get the road win in Mobile.  Quan Jackson's three point basket with just under a minute to go gave the Eagles (12-7, 4-2 Sun Belt) the lead for good.  South Alabama missed four shots on the final possession.  Josh Ajayi had 26 points and eleven rebounds and Trhae Mitchell added 22 for the Jaguars (9-10, 2-4).  It was Mitchell who hit the game tying shot in regulation that forced the overtime period.

TROY 77, GEORGIA STATE 75--Jordan Varnado nailed a three pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining as Troy (10-8, 3-3) closed the game on an 8-0 run to snap Georgia State's seven game winning streak.  The Panthers(14-5, 5-1) led 75-69 with 2:35 to play after a D'Marcus Simonds three pointer.  But Charles Norman answered with a triple of his own.  Alex Hicks hit a pair of free throws to get the Trojans within one.  Simonds missed the front end of a 1-1 with under a half minute to play, giving Varnado and the Trojans an opening.  Varnado tied his career high, scoring 32 points for the second straight game.  Simonds had 28 and Devin Mitchell scored 20 for the Panthers, who made just 5-12 from the free throw line.

COASTAL CAROLINA 89, APPALACHIAN STATE 72--The Chanticleers opened the game on a 16-0 run and never trailed in handing the Mountaineers (5-12, 0-5) their fifth straight league loss.  App rallied to get within two points, 56-54 with 12:45 remaining, but the Chants (7-9, 2-3) went on another 10-0 run to put the game away.  Zac Cuthbertson scored 24 for Coastal, while Justin Forrest had 21 for App.

UTA 82, LITTLE ROCK 73--The streaking Mavericks won their fourth straight conference game, jumping out to a double digit halftime lead.  Edric Dennis scored a season high 32 for UTA (8-11, 4-2), who hit 34-39 from the free throw line to just 18-27 for the Trojans (7-12 2-4).  Marquis Knowell had 21 points for Little Rock.

TEXAS STATE 77, ARKANSAS STATE 64--Nijal Pearson scored 29 points and added eleven rebounds, as the Bobcats (16-3, 5-1) erased a ten point first half deficit with an amazing 30-0 run to move into a tie for first place in the league.  Arkansas State (8-11, 2-4 Sun Belt) had a 32-22 lead when the run began.  Pearson's three pointer tied the game at 32 as the first half ended.  Pearson then scored eight of the Bobcats' 20 straight points to open the second half.  Ty Cockfield had 21 for the Red Wolves