Thursday Night Scores From the Sun Belt

There were four games Thursday night in the Sun Belt and it was a good night if you were from Georgia or Texas.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 90, TROY 82--Tookie Brown scored 19 points and led seven different Eagles in double figures.  Georgia Southern (11-7, 3-2 Sun Belt) trailed by one at halftime but pulled away in the second half.  Georgia Southern shot 70 percent from the field in the second half of play.  Jordan Varnado matched his career high with 32 points for Troy (9-8, 2-3).

GEORGIA STATE 69, SOUTH ALABAMA 66--D'Marcus Simonds scored 18 points and Jeff Thomas and Devin Mitchell added 15 apiece as Georgia State (14-4, 5-0 Sun Belt) rallied late for the win.  South Alabama (9-9, 2-3) took its first lead of the game with 90 seconds remaining, but Kane Williams hit a pair of free throws and Thomas hit a triple with a half minute left to put Georgia State up by four.  Josh Ajayi had 24 points and eleven rebounds, while Rodrick Sykes added 12.  The Jaguars were just 8-19 from the free throw line.

UTA 68, ARKANSAS STATE 59--Edric Dennis scored 25 points to lead UTA to its third straight win.  The Mavericks (7-11, 3-2 Sun Belt) held Arkansas State to just 25 percent shooting in the first half and outscored the Red Wolves 20-7 in points off turnovers made 23 free throws to just nine for A-State.  Arkansas State (8-10. 2-3) trailed 27-18 at halftime.  Ty Cockfield led Arkansas State with 16 points.

TEXAS STATE 80, LITTLE ROCK 62--Texas State opened the second half on a 23-5 run, breaking open a tight game as the Bobcats erased a one point halftime deficit.  Tre Nottingham led Texas State (15-3, 4-1 Sun Belt) with 24 points, including 5-8 from three point range.  Nijal Pearson added 19 points and Eric Terry eleven as the Bobcats shot 64 percent in the second half.  Rayjon Tucker led three players in double figures for Little Rock (7-11, 2-3) but the Trojans were plagued by poor outside shooting, hitting just 5-19 from three point range.

SATURDAY'S GAMES:  Georgia State at Troy, Georgia Southern at South Alabama, Arkansas State at Texas State, Little Rock at UTA, Louisiana at ULM, Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina.