Georgia State accomplished two things Saturday in the semifinals of the Sun Belt basketball tournament.
First, the Panthers (25-7), the conference’s regular-season champions, ran away from tired Arkansas State and won 72-45. Georgia State needs one more win to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, where it hasn’t played since 2001. The Panthers, who have won 22 of their past 23 games, will take on Louisiana-Lafayette in the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Second, Ryan Harrow scored a game-high 20 points, helping to exorcise the nightmare of his previous appearance in a conference tournament last year as the point guard at Kentucky. He missed 13 of his 15 shots in a loss to Vanderbilt. He transferred to Georgia State after the season to be closer to his ailing father. The NCAA granted his waiver request, making him immediately eligible to play.
Despite the buffer of time and the positive experience of all-conference honors this season, Harrow said he relived that SEC nightmare Friday night while sleeping.
“I didn’t know how I would play in the tournament (Saturday),” he said.
Harrow played just fine. He kept Georgia State going in the first half with 14 points as the Panthers’ offense took time to find a rhythm.
Georgia State coach Ron Hunter said he never talked to Harrow about that SEC tournament game because he said they still haven’t spoken about Kentucky, nor will they. Hunter wouldn’t even let Harrow watch a Kentucky game on the bus earlier this week.
“He’s a Georgia State player now,” Hunter said.
Georgia State won both of the regular-season meetings between the teams, but those wins came by a combined four points, creating expectations that Saturday’s game would be close.
But those thoughts were blown to smithereens in the wake of Arkansas State needing four overtimes to knock out Arkansas-Little Rock in Friday’s quarterfinal game.
The Red Wolves didn’t have the legs to execute the game plan of making at least 12 3-pointers that coach John Brady said teams need to have a chance at defeating Georgia State.
The Red Wolves got the looks they wanted against the Panthers’ zone defenses, but they made five 3-pointers and missed 19 more.
With Arkansas State’s shots clanging, the Panthers built their lead to eight in the first half. It doesn’t seem like a big margin, but Melvin Johnson III said it proved too much to overcome.
“We couldn’t get over that hump,” he said.
Still, the Panthers had trouble pulling away.
Momentum started to turn in Georgia State’s favor early in the second half. Harrow picked Rakeem Dickerson’s dribble and raced in for a layup. Brady erupted, and the Red Wolves’ bench was called for a technical foul. R.J. Hunter made one of the two free throws to give the Panthers a 44-31 lead with 15:58 left.
The margin grew to 58-38 a few minutes later following a scoring burst from Devonta White and Harrow, who juked his way for a highlight-reel layup during the stretch.
“People forget how highly recruited he was coming out of high school,” Brady said of Harrow. “Now he’s in the Sun Belt and is the best point guard in the league.”
The lead kept growing, allowing Ron Hunter to empty his bench with a few minutes remaining to rest his starters for Sunday’s quick turnaround.
Hunter said he didn’t think fatigue will be factor, saying they could have played the title at 11 p.m. Saturday and his team would have been ready.
“I have a whole team in there that has never been to the NCAA tournament,” he said. “My job is actually going to be to get them to calm down.”
It may be a tough game. The Panthers swept Louisiana-Lafayette this season, but both games were close. Georgia State won by seven at Lafayette and by three at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Cajuns were led in Saturday’s semifinal by Elfrid Payton and Bryant Mbamalu, who each scored 23 points.
It seems that Brady will root for Georgia State. He said it “will be a shame” if Georgia State doesn’t win Sunday because he said they deserve to be in the NCAA tournament. He said it’s not the Panthers’ fault they don’t have a high enough RPI (No. 80 according to ESPN on Saturday) to be considered as an at-large selection.
“Some of the (bubble) teams they are talking about aren’t better than Georgia State,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind.”
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