There would be no magical moment for Georgia State. Not this time.
Behind a career-high 21 points from Jalen Reynolds, Xavier played an almost perfect game to defeat the Panthers 75-67 on Saturday in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Still Georgia State trailed by six with 2:54 left — half of the margin in almost the same amount of time they had in rallying to defeat Baylor on Thursday — but the Musketeers didn’t make the mistakes that the Bears did. Instead, they made their free throws, avoided turnovers and made their shots in the final three minutes.
Xavier also took advantage of its tremendous height advantage inside, with 6-foot-10 center Matt Stainbrook and the 6-10 Reynolds, to outrebound Georgia State 23-12 and shoot 12 more free throws. The Musketeers shot 67.6 percent, including an astonishing 81.3 percent in the second half that Georgia State’s players didn’t believe until they saw the box score.
“We just couldn’t get them to crack,” Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said. “We didn’t beat ourselves. They beat us.”
Instead, it was Hunter who cracked, tearing up in the interviews when he realized that this may be the last game in which he coaches his son, R.J.
The junior, projected to a late first-round pick in the NBA draft should he come out, led Georgia State with 20 points.
“The greatest week of my life,” said Ron Hunter, who became a national celebrity after falling off his chair celebrating the win over Baylor. “It’s the greatest time I’ve had to be a father.”
R.J. Hunter didn’t cry after the game. Instead, he focused on how enriching the experience of playing in the NCAA Tournament was. He told his teammates in the locker room that if they were crying, it was tears of joy.
“We just turned the culture at Georgia State,” he said.
The Panthers attempted to become the third No. 14 seed to advance to the Sweet 16.
Trailing by 10 with 8:14 left, back-to-back baskets by Hunter and T.J. Shipes cut Georgia State’s gap to six with 7:03 left.
They would cut it to four, but Reynolds made an easy basket in the post to push Xavier’s lead to six with 3:50 left. Markus Crider was called for an offensive foul on Georgia State’s next possession, giving the Musketeers a chance to increase their lead with 3:27 left.
They did with Dee Davis making two free throws to increase Georgia State’s deficit to eight points with 3:17 left.
After Shipes made two free throws, Crider fouled out while unsuccessfully trying to stop Reynolds on another shot near the basket. He made the free throw to give Xavier a nine-point lead with 2:24 left.
It seemed the Panthers had the Musketeers right where they wanted them.
“After yesterday we thought anything was possible,” R.J. Hunter said. “We fought and clawed.”
But Myles Davis made the mountain too high with a 3-pointer — his fifth of the game — with 1:32 left that pushed Xavier’s lead to 10.
Xavier coach Chris Mack didn’t concede that his team played an almost perfect game, but he was proud of their poise in committing only four turnovers in the second half. His players were just as stunned that they missed only three of their 16 shots in the second half.
“We didn’t play our best, but Georgia State had something to do with that,” he said.
But it was good enough.
There would be no magic.
The Panthers were, finally, done. For now.
“We will be back,” Ron Hunter said.
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