Saturday’s Scores from the Sun Belt

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns strengthened their hold on first place by beating Texas State 80-55.  Louisiana now has a two game lead in the loss column over the Bobcats and the two Georgia schools.

In case you missed the other scores:

UTA 71 ULM 44--The Mavericks (13-8, 4-4) bounced back from Thursday's home loss to Louisiana with their win over ULM.  Kevin Hervey led the way for UTA with 21 points and eight rebounds.  ULM was held to 31 percent shooting and the Mavs had a 49-33 rebounding advantage.  Michael Ertel led ULM (7-11, 1-6) with 16 points.  ULM has lost four in a row.

ARKANSAS STATE 70, LITTLE ROCK 62--The Red Wolves trailed by double digits early, but nailed 13 three point shots to beat their in-state rivals.  Grantham Gillard hit five triples to lead the way for Arkansas State (7-13, 2-5) who had lost five straight.  Grantham finished with 23 points and eleven rebounds.  Little Rock (5-15, 2-5) had three players in double figures.

GEORGIA STATE 83, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 66--Make that eight straight for the Panthers over the Eagles in Atlanta.  D'Marcus Simonds led four Georgia State players in double figures as the Panthers (14-6, 5-2) won their fifth straight.  Ike Smith had 16 for the Eagles (14-6, 5-2) who lost for the first time in five games.  Georgia Southern played without leading scorer Tookie Brown who has sidelined with a head injury.

SOUTH ALABAMA 83, APPALACHIAN STATE 77--The Jaguars (11-9, 4-3) finally got some breathing room late against the Mountaineers (8-12, 3-4).  Roderick Sykes had 26 points, including 13-14 from the free throw line, while Josh Ajayi had 24 points and 11 rebounds.  Ajayi put the Jags ahead for good with 44 seconds left and Sykes finished the game off at the free throw line.  Griffin Kinney had 14 to lead App State.

COASTAL CAROLINA 74 TROY 73--Coastal broke a six game losing streak, coming back from a double digit deficit in the second half to trip Troy.  Amidou Bamba's tip in gave the Chants (8-13, 2-6) the lead for good with under two minutes to go.  Zac Cuthbertson scored 21 to lead Coastal, while Troy (8-11, 2-4) was paced by 21 points from Jordan Varnado.

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