Gaining speed as the night progressed, Georgia State hit Tuesday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe as if repeating as Sun Belt champs was already accomplished.
Shaking off a sluggish start in which the team missed nine of its first 11 shots, the Panthers bounced back behind Ryann Green and Markus Crider to defeat the Warhawks 65-45 at the GSU Sports Arena in both teams’ conference opener.
“Win a league game by 20, that’s tough to do,” coach Ron Hunter said. “It was the last 20 minutes that did it.”
Crider finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Green added seven point, five rebounds and a lot of energy. R.J. Hunter finished with a game-high 18 points for the Panthers, who won the Sun Belt last year by going 17-1.
Georgia State (8-4, 1-0) pulled away with a 16-0 run that spanned more than seven minutes midway through the second half. Crider didn’t score during the run, but he got the momentum going earlier with nine consecutive points to give Georgia State a 36-35 lead after Green started the second half with back-to-back baskets.
The key to the run was a halftime adjustment in which Ron Hunter spaced the players on offense out to give Crider more room inside.
“There’s not many guys that can guard him in the high post,” Hunter said. “It ended up working out for us.”
Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter then picked up the pace after being mostly quiet through the first 24 minutes. Harrow brought the crowd to its feet with a no-look reverse layup that drew a foul. He completed the three-point play to give the Panthers a 41-36 lead with less than 13 minutes remaining.
Hunter followed with two free throws and a jumper to increase the lead to 45-36. Green hit a 3-pointer, Kevin Ware added two free throws and Crider rose for a monstrous dunk to give the Panthers a 52-36 lead.
“I just got shots going,” Crider said. “In the first half I missed three easy bunnies. I told the team it wasn’t going to happen in the second half.”
It was a much stronger finish than the start.
Georgia State opened the game like they finished last week’s 17-point loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay: slowly. The Panthers missed a few open looks early against Louisiana-Monroe’s 2-3 zone and didn’t score until Hunter hit a bank shot almost four minutes into the game. Last weekend, the Panthers were outscored 16-1 in the final minutes to Green Bay.
The one thing that saved the Panthers early on was Louisiana-Monroe’s (6-6, 0-1) inability to shoot. Eight minutes into the game, the two teams had combined to miss 18 of 22 shots.
Louisiana-Monroe found its touch first and used a 7-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. Poor play by the Panthers was exemplified by Harrow giving away the ball with a palmed pass on a 2-on-1 fast break and then fouling a player going for a layup on the subsequent Warhawks’ possession.
The Panthers played without T.J. Shipes, who missed the game with an abdominal injury. Ron Hunter said he doesn’t know if Shipes will play on Saturday against Arkansas-Little Rock but without his energy and toughness the team had a hard time finding its groove on Tuesday.
Hunter said he also wasn’t sure if Kevin Ware, who suffered a concussion against Green Bay, would play on Tuesday. Ware did and responded with nine points and two assists. Notably, he frequently attacked the basket in the second half, which opened up space on the outside.
No Washington: Notably absent in the last 20 minutes was 6-foot-10 center Curtis Washington, who started in place of Shipes. Washington had two points and five rebounds in 11 minutes in the first half and didn't play at all in the second.
Hunter implied that may be the case unless Washington starts playing with more energy. Jordan Session and Jalen Brown played in place of Washington. Session finished with four points and seven rebounds. Brown finished with three points and five rebounds.
“At the end of the day, effort. We have to have effort,” Hunter said. “The young guys are bringing effort. Sometimes you have to sit there and look.”
