Georgia State vs. Georgia Southern for trip to NCAAs

Georgia State (23-9) and Georgia Southern (22-8) split their regular-season meeting. The Eagles won in Statesboro on Feb. 5, and the Panthers broke a first-place tie with Eagles in the regular-season finale to clinch the regular-season title.

“We weren’t tough enough,” Georgia Southern coach Mark Byington said of the game in Atlanta. “We didn’t respond to how tough we had to be. It was an incredible environment. Senior Night, and there was a lot on the line.”

The site will be different — Lakefront Arena certainly won’t be a sellout as the GSU Sports Arena was — but there will be much at stake Sunday.

The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The loser likely will end up in the NIT.

Both teams likely will need to improve upon how they played Saturday. Georgia State started well, but had difficulty finishing. Georgia Southern started slowly, but finished well.

Georgia State’s game should have been a blowout after the Panthers built a 24-point lead less than five minutes into the second half. But the Panthers had to hold on to secure the victory after the Cajuns cut the margin to nine with less than three minutes remaining and to four in the final 10 seconds. It was very similar to last year’s title game when Louisiana-Lafayette overcame an 11-point deficit in the final six minutes to force overtime.

R.J. Hunter, named the Sun Belt player of the year for the second consecutive season earlier in the week, led the Panthers (23-9) with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting. He added eight steals and five rebounds.

Hunter said he got no added satisfaction out of ousting the Cajuns.

“We came here for 80 minutes,” he said. “That’s just 40. We are only halfway done.”

Markus Crider added 15 points, Isaiah Dennis 10 and Kevin Ware nine points, six assists and three steals. Dennis and Ware were sensational for the Panthers in place of Ryan Harrow, who started but played only six minutes before it was obvious he was having difficulty moving because of the strained hamstring he sustained in the finale against the Eagles. Harrow returned for a few seconds near the game’s end because Ron Hunter said he wanted him in for his free-throw shooting.

Hunter said Harrow will start Sunday, and the coaches will see how long he can play. The team has proved it can play well without Harrow. Georgia State is 5-0 in the games he has missed because of suspension or injury, and won the past two games, in which he barely played.

Part of that is because substituting Ware and Dennis for Harrow improves Georgia State’s defense. Ware brings length that Harrow doesn’t have, and Dennis brings athletic ability to the zone schemes.

“We’d love to have him play, but if he doesn’t that’s OK, we came here to win,” Hunter said of Harrow. “That’s what this whole week has been. We came here to get this thing done.”

With Ware and Dennis in, Georgia State forced 13 turnovers in the first half that it turned into 22 points and a 44-27 halftime lead.

Hunter said he thought they surprised Louisiana-Lafayette by opening with a press on defense, something they’ve rarely done this season. He said his players came to him Friday and asked if they could open the game that way. His assistants didn’t want it. The players won.

“It makes us aggressive,” Hunter said.

Georgia Southern rallied from eight points behind seven minutes into the second half to advance to the title game.

Jelani Hewitt led the Eagles with 11 points. Eric Ferguson added seven points and 12 rebounds. Trent Wiedeman also scored 11 points.

“It should be a heck of a game,” Byington said. “Two teams from Georgia going at it. Two teams that definitely want to win it.”