Georgia State’s men’s basketball season, which at one point was pegged as finishing in the NCAA tournament, instead ended with a soft thud in the NIT on Tuesday.
Two days after an excruciating overtime loss in the finals of the Sun Belt tournament, the Panthers wrapped up the year with a 78-66 loss to Clemson.
Georgia State couldn’t find success against Clemson’s (21-12) defense, which was the fourth-stingiest in Division I this year (58 points per game). And the Panthers couldn’t stop K.J. McDaniels, who finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds. R.J. Hunter led Georgia State with 15 points.
The loss brings to an end the careers of starters Devonta White and Manny Atkins, who were key factors in this year’s school-record 14-game winning streak, as well as the regular-season title in the Sun Belt. Rashaad Richardson and Denny Burguillos, contributors off the bench, also used up their eligibility.
The team finished 25-9, the second-most wins in program history.
It appeared as if Georgia State was poised to move on after grabbing a 23-20 lead early in the first half. But Clemson went on an 11-0 run to open a 31-23 lead.
Georgia State fought back and cut the margin to 35-32 on an Atkins’ 3-pointer just before the half.
Still, there were things to worry about.
McDaniels matched his per-game average with 17 points, six coming on 3-pointers, in the first half as Clemson had no trouble creating shooting holes in Georgia State’s zone defenses.
Georgia State grabbed a 40-39 lead less than four minutes into the second half on a steal and dunk by R.J. Hunter.
Clemson re-took the lead on a dunk by McDaniels followed by a three-point play from Jordan Roper to give the Tigers a 48-43 lead.
But Georgia State kept hanging around.
Clemson pushed the lead back to five on a hook shot by Landry Nnoko with 8:27 left
Harrow split Clemson’s defense on the ensuing play and seemed to have a layup before Nnoko blocked it, one of several in the second half. Atkins tried to stop the ensuing breakaway and was whistled for a foul.
Ron Hunter, unhappy with the no-call and the call, protested too much and was hit with a technical foul with 7:54 left. McDaniels hit one of the free throws for the technical and DaMarcus Harrison hit both free throws for the foul by Atkins to push Clemson’s lead to 57-49.
McDaniels added two more free throws as Clemson’s lead grew to 10 with 7:02 left.
Georgia State’s hopes of rallying were extinguished by 3-pointers from Jordan Roper and Harrison, the last with 2:43 left as Clemson increased its lead to 72-59.
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