ATLANTA – Old Dominion men’s basketball outscored Georgia State, 45-31 in the second half to cap off the regular season with an 81-73 road victory on Friday night at the GSU Convocation Center.
The Monarchs finish 11-20 overall and 7-11 in Sun Belt play.
“Defensively in the second half, that was really good. We challenged ourselves at halftime. Obviously, we’ve done that a few times this year, and this was one time we definitely responded. So very proud of our guys,” said ODU head coach Mike Jones.
Jordan Battle and LJ Thomas paced the Monarchs’ offense with 20 and 18 points, respectively. Zacch Wiggins finished with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds, a new career best. Caelum Swanton-Rodger, KC Shaw, and Jared Turner each scored eight points, with Swanton-Rodger making three blocks on the night.
The Monarchs (11-20, 7-11 Sun Belt) started off with a quick 6-0 run by LJ Thomas and KC Shaw. A couple of threes by GSU’s Jelani Hamilton and Micah Tucker allowed the Panthers (10-21, 7-11) to take cover, 12-10 at the 14:39 mark, but Jordan Battle answered with a jumper and a three of his own to put ODU back in front, 15-14 with 13:18 left in the opening half.
From there, the hosts put together a 6-0 run to jump ahead, 21-15. The Monarchs fought back to within a point, 21-20 on a triple by Robert Davis Jr. Donovan Raymond tied the game at 22-22 with a slam at the 9:39 mark, and Jared Turner stroked a three ball to give the Monarchs a 25-24 lead with 8:21 to go. The game remained close until GSU went on a late 8-2 run to pull away 39-33. A Scottie Hubbard dunk and a 1-for-2 effort at the line rounded out the scoring for ODU as the Monarchs went into the locker room trailing, 42-36.
Shaw and Wiggins helped narrow the gap to 42-40 with a pair of baskets to open the second half. Following an Anthony Enoh three-pointer that gave the Panthers 50-47 lead with 14:27 on the clock, Donovan Raymond was fouled on a made layup at the 14:10 mark and then completed the and-one opportunity to even the score. ODU then retook the lead as a steal by Battle led to a fastbreak for Davis Jr. Turner then hit a long two from the left corner to make it a 7-0 run by the Monarchs.
ODU kept GSU at a distance thanks to strong shooting at the charity stripe by Swanton-Rodger, but the Panthers pulled to within two, 72-70 when Hamilton went 2-for-2 at the line and Enoh added a jumper with 2:40 to go. Wiggins responded with an old-fashioned three-point play and Thomas scored a layup as ODU went back up by seven, 77-70 with 43 seconds remaining. Battle then helped seal the victory by hitting four free throws in the final 19 seconds.
Asked about what the difference in the game was, Jones added, “We made our free throws. We had a couple sloppy turnovers there, but we only had four turnovers in the second half. Way too many in the first half. [GSU] scored 13 transition points in the first half, but they did not get much of a chance to do that in the second half. Everything I’m saying other than taking care of the ball is defensively related. We’ve got to be that good defensively if we want to have a chance here.”
ODU shot 50.9% (27-for-53) from the field, 28.6% from distance, and 76.7% (23-for-30) at the free-throw line. The Monarchs had more points in the paint, 36-30, and more production off the bench, 18-16. Old Dominion’s defense also held Georgia State to a 38.1% (24-for-63) shooting from the floor and just 15% (3-for-20) from the perimeter. There were nine ties and six lead changes with the Monarchs controlling the game for 19 minutes and 34 seconds.
Asked about how his team handled their composure in such a tight game, Jones said, “College basketball is a very emotional game. It was their Senior Night, we’re on the road and it’s just us. There’s so many things you can point at, but I am proud that we were able to, for the most part, keep our composure and to have the opportunity to learn from the slight moment where we didn’t keep our composure, but it didn’t cost us.”
Up Next
The Monarchs will play in the opening round of the Sun Belt Championship next Tuesday, March 3 in Pensacola, Florida and await their seeding and opponent. For more information about next week’s tournament, visit the conference website here.
“No matter what the circumstances, we’re capable. If we’re going to play defense the way we did in the second half, we’re going to give ourselves a chance. Rob comes back and provides something for us. We’ve got so many guys that are capable of scoring the basketball. We’re going to score enough points, we’ve just got to guard. And if we guard, we’re going to give ourselves a shot.”