ATLANTA – The Texas State men's basketball had a statement win, beating the reigning Sun Belt regular season champion Georgia State on the road 77-74 in double overtime, Wednesday night in Atlanta. The Panthers entered the game on an 18-game home court win streak and are ranked No. 13 in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll. 

"I'm very proud of our players," head coach Danny Kaspar said. "This was a signature win for us. Beating Georgia State on the road is a big feather in our cap. It took contributions from a lot of players, including Cameron Naylor, D.J. Brown, Emani Gant, Kavin Tilbury and Ethan Montalvo. Ethan hit a lot of big shots for us and D.J. played 46 minutes with only three turnovers." 

With the team up 73-72, in the second overtime, Gant hit a baseline fade away jumper to put the team up 75-72. Defense then held the rest of the way, denying the Panthers' attempts to hit a three-pointer and Gilder-Tilbury was able to get a rebound and a free throw to ice the game for the Bobcats.

Down 69-66 with 10.0 seconds to go in the first overtime, the Bobcats struggled to get a shot off but Gant got a loose ball and hit a straight-away three as time expired to send the game into double overtime. It marked the first three-point attempt for Gant in his career.

Earlier in the game, the Bobcats played stingy defense, limiting Georgia State to just 19 first half points and forcing 11 turnovers. The Panthers came into the contest averaging just 10.5 turnovers per game, and finished the night with 17 turnovers.

Cameron Naylor paced the offense in the first half, finding the holes in the zone, and made the Panthers pay, finishing the first 20 minutes with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting. 

Texas State was up 29-27 when reigning SBC Player of the Year R.J. Hunter picked up a technical foul for Georgia State with 11:00 to go.  He finished with just 10 points, going 0-of-10 from three-point range. 

The technical foul allowed Montalvo to shoot two free throws and give the Bobcats 31-28 lead. Gilder-Tilbury would stretch the lead to four when he hit a right wing three, making it 34-30, their largest lead of the game to that point. 

Georgia State responded going on an 8-2 run to take a 38-36 lead with 7:35 to go. Brown would respond with a left wing three to give Texas State the 39-38 advantage. 

The Bobcats saw a 43-42 lead evaporate when Georgia State used its defense to take a 49-43 lead. The lead didn't stay that large for long as Brown hit a three in transition to make it 49-48 with 3:22 to go. 

After Georgia State retook a 53-48 lead, part of 18 lead changes in the game, Texas State had a three-point barrage led by Montalvo to cut the Panthers lead to 55-54. D.J. Brown then stayed patient and hit a left wing three with 16.2 seconds to go give the team a 57-55 lead. Unfortunately, the Panthers made a layup to force overtime at 57-57. 

"It was a team victory and our players our very excited," Kaspar said. "I'm counting on this win to show our players that if we play the right way, we can beat anybody in our league." 

The Bobcats will finally return home on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., to host UALR, its first home game of the Sun Belt season. Thursday's game will be broadcast on 89.9 FM KTSW and online at www.txstatebocats.com/radio.

All hail Danny Kaspar. Only in his second year and already able to get @TXStateMBB to a huge win at a really good Georgia State team.

— David Saltzman (@davidsaltzman) January 6, 2015

Breakout win (In 2OT no less) for Coach Kaspar & @TXStateMBB at preseason favorite Georgia State tonight. Upset of conference season so far.

— Randy Lieberman (@SunBeltRandy) January 6, 2015