NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (6-4, 0-0 C-USA) never trailed in a game that the Monarchs defeated Georgia State (6-4, 0-0 Sun Belt) by a 58-46 score on Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The Monarchs possessed the lead for a total of 37:13 of the possible 40 minutes.
ODU was led by Ahmad Caver’s 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Randy Haynes also recorded double-figures, going for 10 points, three assists and two rebounds in 24 minutes. Jordan Baker went for eight points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists. Denzell Taylor chipped in six points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists, while Brandan Stith also hauled down eight rebounds to go along with six blocks, four points and two assists.
Old Dominion forced 18 Georgia State turnovers, while holding advantages for second chance points (17-5), points off turnovers (17-7) bench points (20-11) and rebounds (36-28). Travis Fields sparked the Monarchs with five points on 2-2 shooting from the floor and 1-1 from three-point range in just four minutes of work.
“This was a nice win for us against a good team, we needed this one,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “We worked hard and played with a lot of energy. We were excited to play today and I thought it showed. Our guys came out to play. Getting 15 offensive rebounds was huge for us, because it kept Georgia State on defense and without the ball. Our defense definitely was not perfect, but I thought it was pretty dag-on good.”
The Monarchs jumped out to a 10-3 lead five minutes into the contest, behind five quick points from freshman Travis Fields. An Ahmad Caver three-pointer extended ODU’s lead to nine, 18-9 with 7:45 to play in the first half. Old Dominion used a 16-0 run to claim a 30-14 lead with 1:57 left in the first, before taking a 36-19 advantage with them into the locker room at halftime.
Nine Monarchs played in the first half with eight scoring, as Caver led the way with six. Old Dominion held the Panthers to 28.6% shooting from the floor. In the first stanza, ODU held advantages in points in the paint (12-2), points off turnovers (13-2), bench points (13-5), as well as second chance points (8-0).
In the opening six minutes of the second half, the Panthers used a 7-3 run, cutting their deficit to 13, 39-26. Denzell Taylor’s tip-in kept ODU up by 13, 46-33, at the 9:53 mark. Caver's fourth three-pointer of the game gave ODU a 54-40 lead with 5:25 to play, before ultimately claiming the 58-46 victory on Sunday afternoon in Norfolk.
NEXT UP
The Monarchs are in the midst of a six-game home stand, with four straight home games remaining. Next up for ODU will be Howard on Dec. 22 at 7:00 p.m. Old Dominion will then have a week off before hosting William & Mary on Dec. 29 at 7:00 p.m.
SINGLE-GAME & SEASON TICKETS
Single-game and season tickets for Old Dominion University men’s basketball are on sale now at www.ynottix.com or by calling 757-683-4444. For group pricing (10+), please call Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087. All ODU students get in free all year long.
VOUCHER BOOKS
The voucher book includes 10 ticket vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets to any remaining home men’s basketball games. The tickets can be used all at once to bring a family or group of friends or spread out amongst multiple games. If you run out of vouchers, simply come back and purchase another voucher book. At just $99 per voucher book, it represents more than $70, or 40%, savings over face value.
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a more in-depth look into the men’s basketball program, be sure to follow @ODUMBB on Twitter, ‘ODU Basketball’ on Facebook and odu_mbb on Instagram.