Georgia St outlasts UT Arlington 63-58 in Sun Belt opener
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — D'Marcus Simonds scored 15 points and Georgia State outlasted UT Arlington 63-58 in a cold-shooting Sun Belt Conference opener on Thursday night.
Simonds did most of his scoring at the free-throw line, sinking 9 of 14 for the Panthers (10-4). Georgia State won despite shooting 41 percent from the floor, 38 percent from 3-point range and making 23 of 38 foul shots (60.5 percent). Devin Mitchell and Malik Benlevi added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Brian Warren and reserve David Azore scored 13 apiece for the Mavericks (4-10), who shot even worse than the Panthers on their home floor. UTA shot 36 percent from the floor and that included a 2-for-25 effort from beyond the arc. The Mavericks made 16 of 22 (73 percent) at the free-throw line. Radshad Davis contributed 11 points and eight rebounds and Edric Dennis scored 11 but made just 2 of 12 from distance.
Georgia State led 31-28 at halftime. Jeff Thomas opened the second half with a 3-pointer to push the Panthers' lead to six and they never trailed after intermission. Davis' 3-point play pulled UTA within 57-55 with 29 seconds left, but Georgia State hit 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to hold on.
