Georgia State seems to have found a seemingly forgotten formula just in time to boost its men’s basketball season.
It’s one the Panthers (16-12, 9-10 Sun Belt) used to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette on 72-69 on Thursday night and will try to fine-tune in the regular-season finale at Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday afternoon.
Depending upon the outcome of one other game and then tiebreakers, a win over the second-place Warhawks could move Georgia State from the sixth seed to the fifth seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament that starts Thursday at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
“We put ourselves in a pretty good position, and now we have to continue to do what we do,” coach Ron Hunter said.
The formula is familiar to Georgia State fans: solid defense and balanced scoring. That’s what the Panthers used the previous two years in winning back-to-back regular-season titles in the conference, and also in winning the Sun Belt tournament last year.
It was re-formulated seven games ago when senior Kevin Ware and freshman Austin Donaldson took over at point guard and Isaiah Williams moved to shooting guard. Though three consecutive losses followed, two by one point each, the Panthers have won three of their past four games.
Thursday’s victory over the Cajuns (15-13, 11-8) may have been the most efficient performance this season. Five players scored at least 10 points, including all three players affected by the lineup change: Ware led the team with 16; Williams added 13, including a 3-pointer that gave the Panthers a four-point lead with 1:40 left; and Donaldson 13 in just 10 minutes. The Panthers shot 50 percent for the second consecutive game after having done so just once in 17 previous conference games.
Donaldson was especially effective because he played less than a minute in the first half. Kevin Ware was hot in the first half with 13 points, but became fatigued in the second half. That’s when Hunter turned to Donaldson.
“We felt like we won the game when we put him in the game,” Hunter said.
Georgia State’s defense created 14 turnovers and was able to keep center Shawn Long, the likely player of the year, from taking over. In addition to six turnovers, he finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, totals well below his averages of 19.4 and 13.2 entering Thursday’s game.
“I thought our defense was really spectacular and our offense is catching up,” Hunter said. “We had five guys in double figures. That’s the formula that Georgia State always won by.”
Notable peformances: Senior Markus Crider played in his school-record 127th game Thursday. He broke the mark held by Jihad Ali. Crider scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting. … Thursday's win was the 103rd for Hunter at Georgia State, tying him for second on the school's all-time wins list with Lefty Driesell.
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