Trojans Rally, Knock Off Georgia State

Saturday, December 15

Troy, Ala.

7:00 p.m.

Troy University

Georgia State

Photo by: Cass Davis

12/15/2012 9:38:00 PM | Basketball (M)

By: Joe St. Pierre

Box Score

TROY, Ala. – After giving up a 16-point lead, the Troy men's basketball team (5-7, 0-2 Sun Belt) rallied from in the final minutes to take down Georgia State (5-5, 0-0 CAA), 57-56, on Saturday night at Trojan Arena. Ray Chambers put in a career-high 18 points and grabbed seven boards in the win.

Troy trailed by five points with 1:47 to play, but a couple of clutch buckets by Antoine Myers tied the score up at 56. Chambers hit the game-winning free-throw with 0:33 left to play. Georgia State's James Vincent went to the line with 0.1 seconds to play, trailing by one point, but the loud Trojan faithful got in his head and he missed both attempts.

“It's a good feeling to win,” said head coach Don Maestri. “We really needed that. It was good to see that we didn't fold at the end. We got out to a great start, played good defense in the first half.”

Emil Jones scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the win, while Jeff Mullahey set a new career-high with 10 points. The Trojans were out-rebounded on the night, 35-32.

Troy shot 42.6 percent from the field (23-of-54) and 27.8 percent from range (5-of-18). The Panthers shot 38.8 percent from the field (19-of-49) and 23.1 percent from beyond the arc (3-of-13).

The Trojans took a 30-16 lead into halftime, sparked by eight points by Chambers. Georgia State's 16 first half points is the fewest allowed by the Trojans in a half of play in the last 13 years. It is also the first time since November 12, 2006, that the Trojans allowed fewer than 20 points in a half, when they gave up just 18 to Loyola-New Orleans in the second half of an 87-52 win.

The Trojans are back in action on Wednesday, December 19, when they travel to Orem, Utah, to take on Utah Valley in a rematch of an 86-82 loss earlier in the month. The game will also be Troy's final non-conference game of the season.

For more information on Troy Athletics, be sure to visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.