Men’s Basketball: Cajuns Win Streak Snapped By Panthers In SBC Battle, 106-92

Washington grabs career rebound No. 1,000 in setback; Cajuns to face Georgia Southern on Saturday 

ATLANTA – Jordan Session scored a career-high 22 points, going 10-for-14 from the floor, and Georgia State placed all six players who played 10 or more minutes in double figures as it earned a 106-92 victory over Louisiana in a Sun Belt Conference battle between the league’s top-two teams on Thursday at GSU Sports Arena.
 
D’Marcus Simonds added 22 points and Devin Mitchell 20 as Georgia State (19-6, 10-2 SBC) won its 10th straight contest while snapping Louisiana’s 16-game SBC win streak dating back to last season and 10-game streak overall. Jeff Thomas scored 18 points for the Panthers, who played seven players, with Malik Benlevi adding 13 and Isaiah Williams 11.
 
Louisiana (20-4, 10-1 SBC), which maintained first-place in the SBC standings, trailed 7-2 early in the contest before using a 10-4 run to take its only lead of the night. JaKeenan Gant opened the spurt with a jumper before a 3-pointer by Marcus Stroman, a bucket by Bryce Washington and 3-pointer by Frank Bartley would give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 12-11 lead with 14:11 remaining in the first half.
 
Session, who was averaging 7.0 points per game entering the contest, responded with back-to-back buckets for the Panthers before a layup by Simonds and dunk by Session gave GSU the lead for good at 19-12.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns closed the gap to two three times in the first half, the last on a Cedric Russell 3-pointer with 3:56 remaining, but Georgia State would use a 10-2 run over the next 1:32, with a bucket by Session giving the Panthers a 49-39 lead at the 2:11 mark.
 
Bartley, who scored 21 points to lead Louisiana, hit a pair of free throws with 13:05 remaining to cut the GSU lead to 67-61, but six straight points by Williams were part of an 11-2 run that pushed the Panther lead to 78-63 that was capped by Simonds’ three-point play with 10:42 left.
 
Gant scored 18 points for Louisiana in his first collegiate game in his home state since his 2015-16 season at Missouri (at Georgia). Russell came off the bench to score 15 points – all from behind the 3-point line – for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Johnathan Stove adding 10.
 
Washington, who scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds for Louisiana, becoming the fourth player in both Ragin’ Cajuns and Sun Belt history to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Stroman dished out a career-best 15 assists – the most by a Ragin’ Cajuns since Aaron Mitchell against Chattanooga on Jan. 2, 1990, while scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds.
 
Louisiana will return to action on Saturday when it faces Georgia Southern (16-9, 7-5 SBC) in a 4 p.m. CST contest from Hanner Fieldhouse.