Playing without leading scorer R.J. Hunter, playing with tired legs after being on the road for almost a week as well as a longer-than-expected ride to the arena, Georgia State still defeated Arkansas State 79-76 in overtime on Tuesday.
Manny Atkins scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Georgia State. Ryan Harrow added 18 points for the Panthers (23-7, 16-1), who have won 20 of 21 games.
“I’ve been coaching for 27 years, I don’t know if I can be prouder of a team,” coach Ron Hunter told postgame show on WRAS 88.5FM. “These kids were exhausted and tired.”
Because of bad weather that turned a drive of slightly more than an hour into one of more than 3 hours, Georgia State didn’t arrive on campus until around 8 p.m. for what was supposed to be an 8:30 tip-off. The game didn’t start until 8:51. Additionally, because Georgia State already wrapped up the Sun Belt’s regular-season title, coach Ron Hunter elected to rest R.J. Hunter, who suffered a bruised knee two games ago. Hunter said there were three more unnamed players that should have sat out, but played anyway.
Georgia State will wrap up the regular season hosting Western Kentucky on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
“I’ll be extremely disappointed if we don’t sell out Senior Night (on Saturday),” Ron Hunter said.
Trailing Arkansas State (17-11, 9-7) on Tuesday by seven with 4:57 left, Atkins and Harrow tried to rally the Panthers.
Atkins scored four consecutive points to cut Georgia State’s deficit to 60-57. Harrow followed with eight of Georgia State’s next 10 points, including a layup to give the Panthers a 67-66 lead with 37 seconds left.
Atkins added two more free throws, but Arkansas State’s Melvin Johnson drained the tying 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left.
Atkins and Harrow weren’t done. They helped Georgia State open a five-point lead with 2:17 left in overtime, which proved too much for the Red Wolves.
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