Panthers come from behind to claim 11th straight

Andres Cruze

The Georgia State Panthers won their 11-consecutive game tying the school record for longest winning streak after defeating the University of Louisiana at Monroe on the road 66-58 Saturday.

Georgia State trailed by eight with eight minutes left in the game, but the Panthers were able to chip away at the War Hawks’ lead by making four consecutive free-throws followed by a layup from Devonte White and jumper from Ryan Harrow to tie the game at 53.

With three minutes left, Harrow made a steal and went down court and made a layup to give the Panthers a two-point lead.

The War Hawks cut the Panthers lead down to one courtesy of a 3-pointer from Daniel Grieves.

On the next drive, Manny Atkins missed a shot and was fouled on the rebound by Ongwae to give the Panthers a chance to extend their lead.

Atkins made both the shots and a dunk by R.J. Hunter sealed the Panthers victory and remain undefeated in the Sun Belt with a 7-0 record. The Panthers improved to 14-6 overall.

The Panthers were sluggish from the floor shooting just 22-of-57.

Luckily, for the Panthers, Louisiana-Monroe’s offense was plagued by miss shots, as well, except for Tylor Ongwae who finished the game with 27 points.

Ongwae got the War Hawks out to a fast start scoring 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Ongwae was a one-man-show for Louisiana-Monroe as no other player from Louisiana-Monroe scored more than one basket in the first half.

Louisiana-Monroe finished shooting 48 percent from the floor.

The game was tied at halftime at 26 after Ryan Harrow hit a three to end the first half.

Harrow finished with a game-high 18 points and shot 7-of-15.

The Panthers will try and extend their winning streak at home to 12 consecutive Thursday night against South Alabama at 7 p.m. If they defeat South Alabama, it will be the longest winning streak in the program’s history.