Golden Panthers shooting woes continue in road loss to Georgia State

By: Malcolm Shields / Staff Writer

The Golden Panthers played their fourth road game on the season against Georgia State on Dec. 1. The Golden Panthers brought their defense on the trip, especially in the first half, but points were hard to come by for FIU in the second half as Georgia State pulled away in the final ten minutes of the game to defeat FIU 73-47 in Atlanta.

DeJuan Wright led the Golden Panthers with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Phil Taylor chipped in with 12 points. The Golden Panthers finished the game shooting 24.1 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers.

The game was a defensive battle in the first half as both squads forced the other to shoot poorly from the field. The Golden Panthers saving grace was its defense as they forced Georgia State to shoot 32 percent from the field and commit nine turnovers in the half.

FIU (2-4) held an early 15-10 lead off of consecutive three pointers by DeJuan Wright and Phil Taylor. Georgia State went on a 12-0 run of their own, which was fueled by the offense of Rashaad Richardson and solid defense at the rim by Eric Bunker, who block five shots in the half. The Golden Panthers also struggled to hold on to the ball as they committed 11 turnovers in the half.

“I thought in the first half both teams were good defensively. Turnovers really bothers us we didn’t do a good job of handling the basketball,” Coach Isiah Thomas said. “When you’re playing out on the road, you can’t turn the ball over.”

The Golden Panthers began the second half with a smaller lineup and utilized the press to apply pressure on the ball as they forced the Panthers into early turnovers to keep the game close. FIU continued to struggle to make shots from the field and Georgia State was able to convert on its opportunities on the offensive end. The Panthers eventually pushed the lead to 46-36 over FIU with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

The Panthers would go on another 6-2 run to push the lead to 12 points. Georgia State (5-3) continued to get easy baskets off of FIU misses in transition and extend its lead to 58-38. Richardson and James Fields were the one-two combination from the guard position as they consistently knocked down shots in transition.

“It was a hard defensive game and in the second half we let it get away from us,” Wright said. “We couldn’t hit shots and we turned the ball over too much. They had too many easy buckets.”

Richardson finished the game with 14 points and Fields added 12 points for Georgia State. In the paint, Bunker was active on both sides of the floor as he finished with seven points, seven rebounds and eight blocks.