ATLANTA – R.J. Hunter tallied 35 points and six rebounds, and Georgia State captured the Sun Belt Conference men's basketball regular-season title by topping Georgia Southern 72-55 in Georgia State Sports Arena Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles (21-8, 14-6) will be the second seed in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and receive a double bye. Georgia Southern will play against an opponent to be determined Saturday, March 14, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Jelani Hewitt led the Eagles with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Trent Wiedeman netted 15 points to go along with three rebounds for Georgia Southern.

Hunter was 8-of-17 from the floor and made 16-of-16 from the free-throw line for the Panthers (22-9, 15-5), who earn the league's automatic bid to the NIT and the top seed in next week's tournament. Curtis Washington finished with 12 points, and Markus Crider had eight.

After Georgia Southern trailed by 11 at the break, Hewitt and Curtis Diamond hit triples in an 8-0 Eagle run to cut a 13-point lead to four early in the second half. But Hunter answered with a 10-0 run of his own, scoring all 10 points and capping the stretch with consecutive triples to open a 48-34 advantage with just over 12 minutes to play.

The cushion stayed in double digits the rest of the way, and a Markus Crider layup with 5:23 to play gave the Panthers a 61-46 cushion. The Eagles were held to 40 percent shooting and managed to make 10-of-19 from the free-throw line in the game.

"One of your fears against their zone is that you don't attack it, and we did that early," said Georgia Southern coach Mark Byington. "There were some plays around the rim that we didn't make, and turnovers killed us in the first half. Our defense in the first half was good, but we had 10 turnovers that led to 13 points. We could have been right where we wanted to be if we could have cut that 10 to five."

Ryan Harrow, who sat out the second half with an injury, scored the first five points in a 10-0 Georgia State run as the Panthers built a 20-10 cushion midway through the first half. The Eagles cut the margin to 24-18 late in the period, but Georgia State outscored Georgia Southern 8-3 over the final 3:51 to earn a 32-21 advantage at halftime. The Eagles had 10 turnovers in the frame and took just 16 shots.

"Our guys fought hard, and it's a disappointed locker room," said Byington. "Obviously, we wanted this, but the big goal comes next weekend, and we want the guys to understand that. The product of their hard work gets them a double bye in the tourney. We have to get ready this week and go get the first one Saturday."

All-session ticket books to this year's Sun Belt Basketball Championships March 11-15, in New Orleans are available for $99 at the Georgia Southern Ticket Office. Call 1-800-GSU-WINS!

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.