ATLANTA — D'Marcus Simonds scored 12 of his 29 points behind the 3-point line to lead Georgia State to an 81-72 win over rival Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon.
The former Gainesville Red Elephant was 10-of-20 shooting and the Panthers (17-6, 7-2) also shot 50 percent as a team while making 10 of 27 3-point attempts. Kane Williams added 19 points, Malik Benlevi 12 and Jeff Thomas 10.
Quan Jackson scored 20 points with three 3-pointers to lead the Eagles (13-9, 5-4). Isaiah Crawley added 15 and Tookie Brown and Simeon Carter 11 each. Montae Glenn grabbed 10 rebounds.
Georgia State scored 20 points off 15 Eagles turnovers. With the win, the Panthers remain atop the Sun Belt Conference standings.
Trailing 37-31 at halftime, the Eagles took their first lead of the second half with 15:18 left after a 3-pointer by Jackson. The lead changed hands 11 times after that, the final time when, down by one with 4:13 to go, Georgia State finished the game on a 13-3 run, including six free throws by Williams.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
