The Arkansas State Red Wolves dominated the game by 26 points with a final score of 85-59 A-State, staying undefeated at home. 

The Red Wolves faced off against the Georgia State Panthers for the second basketball game Saturday, with the women’s team defeating ULM in the game before. 

The Red Wolves started the game off strong with Taryn Todd scoring the first two points before the Panthers scored. A-State proceeded to score 26 unanswered points, with Georgia State struggling to keep up for 10 minutes. The Panthers eventually scored with 2:52 left of the first, making the score 44-13 Red Wolves. 

“I even believe that a lot of our offense in the first half was a result of defensive efforts,” Coach Bryan Hodgson said.

The Red Wolves had a total of seven blocks, six steals and five turnovers which resulted in 13 points. On the other hand, the Panthers recorded two blocks, four steals and 11 turnovers. The turnovers resulted in four points.

Forward Izaiyah Nelson led the team in rebounds with 12, seven offensive and seven defensive. Nelson was the winner of the Hard Hat for his performance in the game. 

“Coach said this is going to be a big rebounding game and the last six games now, the opposing team beat us in rebounds,” Nelson said. “So I told Coach, I’m going to start rebounding.” 

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

The Red Wolves narrowly won the rebound battle in a contest that saw 100 rebounds total. A-State got 51, and the Panthers got 49.

“We put a major emphasis on rebounding. That’s one of the best rebounding teams in the Sun Belt, especially on the offensive element,” Hodgson said, “We led the rebounding battle for the entirety of the game so we’re proud of that.”

The entire roster was put in the game at some point, every A-State player made it on the court. Freshman forward Justin Johnson was one of these players, playing for less than five minutes but getting three slam dunks and a free throw. 

“We’ve got guys coming off the bench that would start for a lot of programs,” Hodgson said. “And so we’ve got a lot of depth and I think it’s gonna continue to just show more and more as we get further into the year.”

Guard Joseph Pinion and guard Tayrn Todd led the team in points, scoring 14 and 12 respectively. 

“We got guys on the team that you got to guard,” Pinion said, “I’ll be wide open and I’ll hit shots, so I feel like that really helped me out today,”

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

During the first half, the Red Wolves only missed one free throw, scoring seven of their eight. During the second half, the Red Wolves didn’t miss any, making their free throw percentage 90.9 by the end of the game. 

The Panthers weren’t as lucky, making 13-21 from the line and missing both of theirs in the first half for a percentage of 61.9.

The Red Wolves were 31-78 throughout the entire game for their field goals, making their percentage 39.7 and 13-39 on their three-pointers for a 33.3%. 

This win over Georgia State puts Arkansas State second in conference at 5-2 in the Sun Belt and 14-5 overall. Georgia State moves to 12th in conference at 3-4 in the Sun Belt and 7-12 overall.

A-State will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers at home. The game will be televised on ESPN2 on January 23 at 8. Pinion said this game will be a big one for the team.

“We can really show the world what we can do again, because we know who we are but some guys think we aren’t who we are,” Pinion said, “So we’re about to show everybody.”

Categories: Sports