What a way to make history.
Georgia State set a school record with its 12th consecutive win on Saturday, but the Panthers needed everything they could muster to subdue Texas-Arlington 101-91 at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers overcame the Mavericks hitting 10 3-pointers … in the first half. They rallied from 16 points down in the second half, completing the comeback when R.J. Hunter hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left and Devonta White added another just before the buzzer to force an extra period and keep the students on the edge of their seat. Hunter finished with 31 points and White a career-high 30, just the second time in school history the team has had two players score at least 30.
After the game, Ron Hunter came without his sportsjacket, lost somewhere in the locker room or in the sea of people that flooded the floor to bask in something that he said Georgia State (15-6, 8-0) doesn’t get to experience enough of: Success.
“It’s obvious I’m proud of my team, but I’m really proud of Georgia State,” Hunter said. “This is a great thing for Georgia State. The students up there having something to cheer about. The excitement for our faculty, our students, everybody, our entire university. This was for this university.”
Georgia State will go for win No. 13 on Monday against South Alabama. The Panthers haven’t lost since Dec. 7, when Southern Miss defeated them in overtime and improved to 8-0 at home this year.
In knocking off the Mavericks (9-12, 4-5), the Panthers beat the previous mark for consecutive wins set during Hunter’s first season in 2011-12.
Hunter said he had worried about this game for three days for many reasons. Because of the ice storm, he and his assistants weren’t able to make it to practice so he asked R.J. to run things on Wednesday. Markus Crider had a death in the family, so he left town and also missed practices. The storm threw the team’s schedule off. Thursday’s game was postponed until Monday. And Texas-Arlington’s lineup figured to cause Georgia State problems.
“We were wondering what was up with coach,” R.J. Hunter said.
They found out quickly.
Things didn’t look good — which Ron Hunter joked can be attributed to R.J.’s short coaching stint — as the Mavericks surprised Georgia State by going with a starting lineup featuring four guards. The gambit worked as they hit 10 3-pointers in the first half. Jamel Outler hit six, and didn’t score again until overtime. Ron Hunter said his team was out of sorts on defense and weren’t doing what helped the during the winning streak.
Texas-Arlington’s lead reached 16 with 14:06 left in the second half as easy layups replaced wide-open 3-pointers.
On offense, the Panthers began to panic, uncharacteristically throwing away passes and looking out-of-sync on offense.
The streak looked dead.
But then Georgia State’s defense, sparked by Ryann Green, started to create turnovers and the offense started clicking.
Hunter smartly drew a foul on a 3-point attempt with 5:47 left. He made the free throws and followed that with a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the score at 69 with 4:41 left.
Feeling the hot hand, Hunter followed that with a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Georgia State a 74-71 lead with 2:20 left. It was the Panthers’ first lead since Ryan Harrow scored the first basket of the game.
But the Mavericks weren’t done and took a two-point lead with 23.1 seconds left. The Mavericks began to make free throws and took a four-point lead with 12 seconds left.
Hunter answered with a 3-pointer to cut Georgia State’s gap to 80-79 with seven seconds left. Hunter said he was trying to draw contact. When he didn’t he squared-up at the last second for the shot.
“Thank God it went in,” he said.
The streak wasn’t dead yet.
Reger Dowell, who led the Mavs with 26 points, hit two more free throws to give Texas-Arlington an 82-79 lead with five seconds left.
The Panthers called timeout three seconds left to draw up the inbounds play.
There were three options: Hunter, Manny Atkins and White.
Ron Hunter reasoned that the Mavericks couldn’t guard all three.
White, who missed a game-tying layup seconds earlier, got the ball on the wing and drilled the game-tying 3-pointer, holding his shooting stroke as the ball flew through the net. He was a solitary figure, right arm extended and wrist bent, as everyone around him went crazy beforre running up to hug him.
“I had to do that,” White said of his pose.
He said he and R.J. Hunter practiced that shot Friday night, so he felt good taking it.
The streak was alive.
Harrow iced the game in overtime with a steal. He flew down the court, spinning around one defender before making a layup to give the Panthers a 93-87 lead with 1:21 left. They made most of their free throws the rest of the way to seal the win.
The streak continues.
“We knew we were going to get back into the game,” R.J. Hunter said. “That’s just the swagger of a winner.”
