Georgia State's reign as Sun Belt tournament champs didn't last long.
Texas State’s Bobby Conley hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to defeat the Panthers 63-61, dumping them out of the tournament in the first round on Thursday.
The Panthers took a 61-60 lead on a layup by freshman Jeff Thomas with 11.2 seconds left.
But they gave Conley too much space on the wing and he buried the shot for just his second basket of the game.
The defeat was like so many others during Georgia State's season: too many long gaps without scoring on offense to wipe out a 13-point halftime lead, and too many 3-pointers allowed in key stretches on defense, including two in the game's final minute.
“This game was the story of our season,” coach Ron Hunter said.
Jeremy Hollowell and Thomas led Georgia State (16-14) with 16 points each.
Texas State rallied to take a 51-50 lead on consecutive baskets by Emani Gant with 4:47 left.
Isaiah Williams countered with a 3-pointer and Hollowell hit two free throws to give Georgia State a four-point lead with 3:26 left.
Ojai Black was given space on the baseline and he hit a layup to cut Georgia State’s lead to two. The Panthers were sloppy with a pass against Texas State’s press, resulting in a turnover and a free throw by Black to make it 55-54 with 2:43 left.
Markus Crider, who has a history of playing well in the conference tournament, answered with a layup by it was offset by a 3-pointer by Kavin Gilder-Tidbury to tie the game at 57 with 1:22 left.
Williams got loose for a layup to give Georgia State a 59-57 lead with 55 seconds left.
Williams then stole a Texas State pass and, as he was falling out of bounds on the baseline, threw it down against a Texas State player to give the Panthers the ball with 43.9 seconds left. Texas State’s coaches and players, standing in front of the play, protested the call. After a review by former Braves catcher Bruce Benedict, now a college basketball official, the Bobcats were given the ball with 43.9 seconds left.
Gilder-Tidbury took advantage of the reversal with a 3-pointer over Kevin Ware’s outstretched arm and between the top of the 3-point arc and the wing to give Texas State a 60-59 lead with 29.7 seconds left.
Thomas smartly stepped under his leaping defender on Georgia State’s next possession to push in a layup and give the Panthers the one-point lead to set up the winning shot.
Texas State coach Danny Kaspar said the winning shot didn’t come off a drawn-up play.
Hunter said the defense was keyed to not allow a 3-pointer. However, two guards didn’t communicate, which gave Conley room to shoot.
Here are four observations about the game.
Rolling power outages. Georgia State color analyst Brandon Leak used that phrase during the halftime show and it's perfect for Georgia State's on-again, off-again offense. The Panthers scored 34 points in the first half despite not getting anything for more than 4 minutes in the first half. Another power outage occurred at the beginning of the second half. The Panthers got one T.J. Shipes free throw and one layup for the first five minutes, during which the Bobcats cut their 13-point halftime deficit to four.
The Panthers had another later in the half during which Hollowell’s free throw was the only points from 12:07 until 8:05 when Hollowell hit a layup. The Bobcats cut Georgia State’s lead from nine to one before Hollowell’s basket.
That was just a blip though because the Panthers didn’t make another field goal until Williams’ 3-pointer with 4:18 left. The only points during that span came on two Crider free throws at 6:02.
Hunter said the team’s guard play wasn’t what it needed to be in the second half, which has been a problem all season. Ware, recently thrust into point guard, had six turnovers (a high in conference play for him this season) and two points. Freshman Austin Donaldson, who began to see more time at point guard deep into the season, had three turnovers and two points.
Fast-break points. In what must be a season-high, Georgia State scored 15 fast-break points in the first half. Scoring in transition is something the team hasn't been able to do effectively or efficiently this season. So much so that it took until the 18th conference game for the Panthers to score more fast-break points than a league opponent.
But those dried up in the second half because Texas State began taking care of the ball. The Bobcats had just four turnovers in the second half, resulting in Georgia State having just three fast-break points in the second half.
3-point defense. Georgia State limited the Bobcats to 1-of-8 3-pointers in the first half. They hit 6-of-9 in the second half.
What's next. The Panthers will lose Crider, Shipes, Ware and Jalen Brown, all seniors. The group will welcome transfers Willie Clayton (Charlotte) and Devin Mitchell (Alabama), as well as signees Chris Clerkley and D'Marcus Simonds.
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