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ATLANTA – University of South Alabama seniors Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) and Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) scored 19 and 16 points, respectively, but the Georgia State men's basketball team shot 63.0 percent from the floor in an 85-65 win Monday night at the GSU Sports Arena.

The Panthers extend their school-record winning streak to 13 and move to 16-6 overall and 9-0 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Jaguars fall to 7-15 and 1-8.

GSU converted 65.2 percent from the floor in the first half and 72.7 percent from 3-point land, and had its top three scorers convert 10 of 15 from distance.

"Tonight we had a gameplan of not letting certain guys shoot 3s and laying off a couple of others, but unfortunately they were 8-for-11 from the 3s and the (Ryan) Harrow kid, who normally shoots 26 percent from 3, made three out of four and got them in a really good rhythm," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "They're very talented offensively and once they get going they're hard to stop."

The Panthers jumped out to a 17-point lead thanks to a 15-2 run midway through the first half. Manny Atkins started the onslaught with a 3-pointer, the first of six straight possessions with a bucket, and Ryan Harrow scored seven points during the spurt, including the final two after a steal.

In the second half, South Alabama kept chipping away at the lead and held Georgia State without a field goal for 4:39 while Rubit and Allen combined for 14 of the team's first 19 points of the period.

A triple from Allen cut the lead down to 57-46 with 9:05 to play, but the Panthers scored eight of the next 10 points and 14 of the next 19 to go up 20 with 5:26 left in the game.

"I felt like in the second half, we made a nice adjustment defensively and made it tough in that first 10-to-12 minutes," Graves said. "We kept them off balance and kept attacking, but with a team like this at home, you can only take so many punches; they kept making big shots and big 3-pointers. When a team shoots 63 percent on you, you're asking for a long night."

Allen totaled a team-high 19 points—his most in the 2014 calendar year—on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor and 4 of 6 from long range. Fifteen of those points came after halftime.

Rubit added 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting with 10 points coming after intermission. He also grabbed a team-best six rebounds.

"Our two seniors did what seniors are supposed to do on the road and it was good that they stepped up and shot a good percentage," Graves stated. "When Antoine takes good shots, he's more than capable of making them and if he plays within the offense, he can really do some positive things for us.

"I did think we did a better job of getting Augustine and Mychal (Ammons) the ball down inside. I know it doesn't show in Mychal's numbers per se but he got more touches than he normally does and Aug was able to get free early. In the first half he had three turnovers so he has to understand once we get him the ball he's got to be strong with it and continue to take it up towards the basket."

Freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) was the only other Jaguar in double-digit points with 10. Sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) tied his career high with five assists.

"I was really encouraged offensively; we had 14 assists on 26 field goals, which is moving in the right direction, like we did in the last game," Graves said. "We had nine turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 12, so we did a better job of taking care of the ball. I'm hoping we're starting to build some positive momentum on the offensive end of the floor as we move into our game on Thursday."

Georgia State's starters accounted for 80 of the team's 85 points, with three pouring in 20 or more. R.J. Hunter tallied 24, and Harrow and Atkins tallied 20 each. Harrow and Devonta White had seven and six assists, respectively.

The Jaguars stay in Alabama on Thursday when they face in-state rival Troy at 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: Georgia State is the first Sun Belt school to score over their season average coming into the game; the Panthers were averaging 78.4 points per contest… Allen is averaging a team-best 17.0 points in the last three games while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 43.5 percent from 3-point territory… Rubit passed Kannard Johnson of Western Kentucky for 17th on the Sun Belt's career scoring list with 1,750; Rubit needs 26 to take over the 16th spot… Rubit recorded the 91st double-digit scoring game of his career, third best in school history and one shy of Ed Rains in second place… Georgia State's first-half field goal percentage of 65.2 is the highest by a South Alabama opponent this season and the 63.0 overall percentage is second-best by the opposition (New Mexico State, 63.5)… The Jaguars took just four 3-point attempts in the first half and went 10-for-15 on 2-pointers… USA remains winless away from home (0-8 road, 0-2 neutral) and when scoring fewer than 66 points (0-13 overall, 0-7 SBC)… Harrow scored just four points in the Jan. 4 meeting between the two schools in Mobile… South Alabama failed to block a shot for the first time this season.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—