Senior Corey Allen, who earned Tournament Most Outstanding Performer honors, finishing with 29 points for a second-straight night, going 5-of-6 from 3-point range and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.
Fellow senior Eliel Nsoseme recorded a third-straight double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds to be named to the Sun Belt All-Tournament Team for a second-straight year. It was Nsoseme’s sixth double-double of the season, 12th of his career, and fifth in six Sun Belt Conference Tournament Games.
Georgia State (18-10) won for the 10th straight time and is now heading to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history and the first since back-to-back appearances in 2018 and 2019.
Junior Jalen Thomas added 12 points, while senior Kane Williams added 10 points while going 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Georgia State finished the night 22-of-24 from the free throw line while also shooting 10-of-15 from 3-point range.
Williams will now become the first Panther in program history to play in three NCAA Tournaments.
Senior Justin Roberts filled up the stat line with nine points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Louisiana (16-15) was led by Jordan Brown who scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Greg Williams Jr. added 15 points.
Georgia State got off to a red-hot start knocking down eight of its first 11 shots and following a 3-pointer from Ja’Heim Hudson took a 21-12 lead with 11:47 to play, forcing Louisiana to call its first timeout.
An Allen 3-pointer with 7:51 to play pushed the lead back to double figures, 30-20, as the Panthers started 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
A lay-up by Jalen Dalcourt got Louisiana within six with 5:39 to play, but the Panthers responded and back-to-back jumpers by Nsoseme put the Panthers back ahead 39-29 with under four minutes to play.
Georgia State went into the locker room with a 42-33 lead after shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 6-of-11 from 3-point range.
The Panthers kept making shots to start the second half and on back-to-back 3-pointers from Allen and Evan Johnson led 51-41 with 14:51 to play.
Both teams started to struggle shooting from the floor, but a pair of free throws from Troy Brown with 7:28 to play got the Ragin’ Cajuns with three, 55-52.
However, the Panthers would not be denied for a second-straight year and on a jumper by Thomas retook a 10 point lead, 65-55, with 4:10 to play causing Louisiana to call its third timeout.
Louisiana would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Panthers continued to knock down their free throws.
Game Notes
