Georgia State loses in overtime to Delaware

“Thought we controlled it if we won tonight,” coach Ron Hunter said. “It’s not that it’s over with, it just makes it harder.”

Hunter said his senior-laden team is feeling pressure, something most of the players haven’t experienced in college. After rallying to defeat Northeastern on Wednesday, a performance that Hunter called a benchmark because his team came back, they couldn’t finish Saturday, though they came close. Trailing by 12 at the half, the Panthers used a 17-0 run to take a five-point lead in the second half.

The Blue Hens took a 79-74 lead in overtime on two free throws by Jarvis Threatt with 15 seconds remaining. Rashaad Richardson answered with a 3-pointer, his only points, four seconds later.

The Panthers fouled Threatt on the inbounds play. He made the first free throw, but missed the second. Richardson tried another 3-pointer from a similar spot, but missed. Jihad Ali grabbed the rebound, but couldn’t get to the 3-point line to get a shot off before the buzzer.

Of the Panthers’ six conference losses, five have been by three points or less and by a combined 13 points, which didn’t make Hunter’s anguish afterward any less painful.

“I’ll close my eyes now because I won’t sleep tonight,” Hunter said. “All year, one-possession games, one-possession games all year. I feel like that’s on me because I’ll ask myself if there’s something I could have done.”

The Panthers were forced to play the final minutes without Eric Buckner, who had six points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and Josh Micheaux, who fouled out with 32 seconds remaining in regulation after scoring a team-leading season-high 26 points.

Hunter said he challenged Micheaux at halftime because he thought Delaware was playing tougher than his team. He said that Micheaux is supposed to be his team’s toughest player, and he needed to show it in the second half.

Micheaux came out aggressively, scoring 20 points in the half on a series of pump-fakes and drives. He scored eight points during the 17-0 run. But the Blue Hens solved Georgia State’s pressure and stayed close. They eventually took a 66-64 lead when Buckner fouled out on an off-the-ball call, one of many called on both teams, as he battled with Josh Brinkley for position with 2:22 left.

The Panthers were called for a season-high 27 fouls, four more than they were called for in their season-opening loss, the next highest mark.

“You have to earn respect,” Hunter said. “I’m fortunate in the league I was in before, we used to get all those calls. Now we are coming up. ... We will get those.”