Georgia State beats Louisiana-Lafayette in Sun Belt quarters

Mar 11, 2017, 12:36 pm

NEW ORLEANS -- D'Marcus Simonds scored 17 points, Jeremy Hollowell added 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and second-seeded Georgia State beat Louisiana-Lafayette 86-76 in Friday's quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Malik Benlevi scored 15 and Isaiah Williams had 14 for the Panthers (20-11), who snapped the Ragin' Cajuns' seven-game win streak and will face either No. 3 Georgia Southern (18-13) or No. 6 Troy (19-14) in Saturday's semifinals.

Trailing by 15 early in the second half, Louisiana-Lafayette closed to 66-60 on Jerekius Davis' jumper, but Georgia State took a 10-point lead with 1:47 left on Isaiah Dennis' layup. Jay Wright's jumper cut the deficit to eight with 54 seconds left, but Louisiana-Lafayette got no closer.

Devin Mitchell's free throw put the Panthers up for good, 14-13, and Georgia State led 35-26 at halftime.

The Panthers outscored the Ragin' Cajuns 36-28 in paint, outrebounded them 44-31, and held them to 38-percent shooting from the field.

Wright scored 27 for the seventh-seeded Ragin' Cajuns (21-12).