ATLANTA-Trae Goldston nailed six three-pointers and scored a career-high 28 points and Trey Hampton added 16 points and seven rebounds as Georgia State downed Georgia Southern, 85-65, Tuesday at the GSU Sports Arena.

The Panthers' (7-6) shot 62 percent from the field, their best figure in three seasons under head coach Rod Barnes, and scored a season-high 85 points for their seventh straight win at the Sports Arena.

Goldston, the senior guard from Decatur who scored 22 points in Saturday's win over Eastern Michigan, has scored 50 points and hit 11-of-19 three-pointers in the last two contests. Tonight he went 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and 11-of-16 overall.

Hampton went 8-for-8 from the field and also blocked four shots. He was one of four Panthers to score in double figures, along with Joe Dukes (15 points, six assists and four steals), and Ousman Krubally (11 points).

"Merry Christmas to everyone; my team gave me a nice present tonight," said Barnes. "And I can't say enough about Trae Goldston. We've worked really hard on our offense, but our main focus has been defense. But I knew sooner or later, our guys were going to start shooting the ball well. What better night than tonight?"

For Georgia Southern (3-10), Antonio Hanson also had a productive shooting night with 20 points, including 6-of-10 three-pointers.

Playing Georgia Southern for the first time since the 1996-97 season, the Panthers led from the early going but were ahead just 42-36 after a hot-shooting first half by both teams. Georgia State shot 61 percent from the field, behind 17 first-half points by Goldston, but the Eagles were at 50 percent as Hanson also scored 17, hitting five of six from beyond the arc.

Georgia State broke the game open by scoring the first eight points of the second half on a steal and layup by Dukes, followed by back-to-back triples from Goldston to build a 14-point lead. From there, the Eagles never got closer than nine points as Georgia State turned up its defense, holding Georgia Southern to just 36 percent from the field after the intermission.

"We shot the ball really well in the first half, but I told our team at halftime that we would this game on defense," said Barnes.