Georgia State will once again play for the Sun Belt tournament championship.
A year after falling to Louisiana-Lafayette in the title game – and not getting the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament — the Panthers defeated the Cajuns 83-79 in the semifinals on Saturday. Georgia State will face the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between Georgia Southern and Louisiana-Monroe in Sunday’s final.
“We’ve been preparing for this moment since Nov. 1,” Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said. “We are finally here at this moment.”
It should have been a blowout after Georgia State 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 year earlier in the week, led the Panthers (23-9) with a game-high 32 points.
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. Dennis and Ware were sensational for the Panthers in place of Ryan Harrow, who started but played just six minutes before it was obvious he was having difficulty moving because of the strained hamstring he sustained in the finale against Georgia Southern last week. Harrow did return 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 on Sunday and the coaches will see how long he can play. The team has proven it can play well without Harrow. Georgia State is 5-0 in the games he has missed because of suspension or injury, and 2-0 in the past two games in which he has barely played.
Part of that is because substituting Ware and Dennis for Harrow improves Georgia State defensively. Ware brings length that Harrow doesn’t have and Dennis brings athleticism.
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 year. He said his players came to him on Friday and asked if they could open the game that way. His assistants didn’t want it. The players won.
“It makes us aggressive,” Ron Hunter said.
Georgia State increased its lead to 52-30 following two free throws by Hunter and a short jumper. The free throws came after a double-technical was called, one against Hunter and one against the Cajuns’ bench.
The lead moved back to 24 following a free throw by Crider after all-conference forward Shawn Long picked up his fourth foul with 14:01 left.
And then Georgia State, as it has done frequently this season, began to slow down on offense.
The Cajuns were able to cut Georgia State’s lead to 68-56 on a three-point play by Johnathan Stove and a steal and layup by Jay Wright with 4:05 left.
After a Crider free throw, Stove hit a short jumper to cut Georgia State’s lead to 11.
Ware followed with a three-point play to increase the Panthers lead to 72-58 with 2:56 left.
“I could tell by our body language that we were getting complacent,” R.J. Hunter said. “Kevin did a good job leading us and handling the ball.”
But the Cajuns wouldn’t go away.
Steven Wronkoski answered Ware with a long 3-pointer to again cut Georgia State’s lead to 11 with 2:47 left.
Following a Georgia State turnover, Wronkoski hit a reverse layup to cut Georgia State’s lead to nine with 2:30 left.
But Crider hit a layup, Ryann Green hit two free throws and Hunter hit two more to seal the win.
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