What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State cruised to a 101-86 victory at Louisiana on Monday night, as Isaiah Williams and D'Marcus Simonds each scored 24 points.
* Louisiana gave up 100 points at home for the first time since 1990.
* Georgia State shot 62.1 percent from the floor, just outside of a top-10 mark in school history.
LAFAYETTE, La.-Led by 24 points from both Isaiah Williams and D'Marcus Simonds, Georgia State cruised to a 101-86 victory over Louisiana on Monday night at the Cajundome.
Georgia State (10-7, 3-2 Sun Belt) shot 62.1 percent from the floor, just outside of the top 10 in program history, and went 10-of-19 from 3-point range to lead by as many as 23 points late in the second half.
Williams finished 9-of-16 from the floor with five assists, while Simonds went 9-of-14, pulling down four rebounds as the Panthers shot over 60 percent in each half.
Senior Jeremy Hollowell just missed a double-double with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Devin Mitchell came off the bench to score 11.
Louisiana (12-6, 2-3 Sun Belt) had not given up 100 points at home since a 128-105 win over Grambling on Dec. 1, 1990.
The Panthers scored 100 points or more for the second time this year and for the first time against a D1 opponent since a 101-91 overtime win against UT Arlington on Feb. 1, 2014.
“Our team is back and full strength and we are playing really well on both ends of the floor,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “I keep saying Isaiah Williams and D'Marcus Simonds are one of the best backcourts in the conference and they played like it tonight. Really proud of the way our guys played on this road trip and now we need to take the same energy home.”
Trailing 7-5 early in the game, Georgia State responded with a 9-0 run to take a 14-7 lead with 16:08 to play, forcing Louisiana to call its first timeout.
Leading 23-21, Georgia State used an 8-0 run, including two 3-pointers from Mitchell to push the lead to 31-21 with 8:40 to play in the first half.
The Panthers led by as many as 12 with 7:11 to play in the first 20 minutes and went into the locker room leading 53-42 as sophomore Jeff Thomas hit a high-arching 3-point at the buzzer.
Georgia State shot 61 percent in the first half, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range and 11-of-12 from the free throw line. The Panthers were called for 16 fouls, leading the Ragin' Cajuns to shoot 18-of-21 from the line before heading into the locker room.
Georgia State opened the second half equally strong as in the first half and after an 11-0 run, led 70-48 with 13:24 to play.
Halfway thru the second half, the Ragin' Cajuns used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 78-61, before Simonds responded with back-to-back buckets.
Louisiana got as close as 11 points, 78-67, following a Johnathan Stove lay-up with 8:52 to play, but could never cut Georgia State's lead to single digits.
Bryce Washington recorded his NCAA-leading 15th double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Frank Bartley IV, scored a team-high 19 points for Louisiana, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.
Georgia State turned the ball over a season-low seven times, while shooting 19-of-25 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Malik Benlevi added nine points for the Panthers.
Georgia State will return home to face Sun Belt newcomer Coastal Carolina in the GSU Sports Arena on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. live on ESPN3. New football coach Shawn Elliott and his staff will be introduced at halftime of the game.
