R.J. Hunter made Georgia State history Saturday by becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer in a 75-64 win against Louisiana-Lafayette at the GSU Sports Arena.
And celebrating that feat, accomplished in slightly less than three seasons, still won’t be enough for R.J. Hunter to go out to dinner with father, coach Ron Hunter, to celebrate. Not even using Mom to try to persuade him will be enough to keep a certain someone waiting.
“Don’t listen to him, he wants me to have a girlfriend,” a laughing R.J. Hunter said. “I’m going out tonight, just not with my dad.”
Hunter entered Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette tied with Rodney Hamilton for the school record at 1,515 points. Hunter moved atop the list on a short shot with 9:44 left in the first half. He finished with 13 points and now has 1,528. He added seven rebounds and seven assists in what Ron Hunter said was the best floor game he’s seen from his son.
Ryan Harrow led the Panthers (13-7, 6-3 Sun Belt) with 19 points.
R.J. Hunter thought he was going to set the record on a short, floating shot from the right side a few minutes earlier. It bounced around the rim and out. Hunter said he couldn’t stop thinking about the record. But it was obvious that he wasn’t going to force it. He passed up a 3-point shot from the wing earlier before missing the short jumper.
And then came history as he hung in the air while a defender tried to slide into him on the historic 8-foot shot.
Hunter said he has no idea what he’s going to do with the ball, saying he will probably lose it if someone else doesn’t take it, but he does appreciate the moment, if not the memento.
“For it to happen so fast in 2 1/2 years is unreal,” Hunter said. “I’ve had the best 2 1/2 years of my life. For this to happen so fast and so quick and against Lafayette makes it even sweeter.”
Hunter’s historic shot was part of a 9-0 run that turned a three-point Panthers lead into a 12-point lead.
With a seemingly renewed commitment to communication on defense, Georgia State’s zone defenses smothered the Cajuns (11-9, 5-4) early. Louisiana-Lafayette shot only 25 percent in the first half. The higher-percentage inside shots refused to drop as the Panthers collapsed to the basket time after time to harass Shawn Long and Louisiana-Lafayette’s other inside players for the game’s first 30 minutes.
Unlike in most of Georgia State’s previous games, there were few holes in the zone outside for open 3-point shots, either. Hunter wanted the Cajuns to try to shoot contested 3-point shots. The tactic worked: The Cajuns missed 14 of their 19 3-pointers while they shot 33.9 percent in the game.
The improved defense was a result of the team taking advantage of a bye earlier this week to rest and actually get to practice.
“We were able to work, get our legs and work on our slides,” Ron Hunter said.
Things began to change in the game’s last 10 minutes as Georgia State’s defense, particularly in the free-throw lane, began to lose its cohesiveness.
Louisiana-Lafayette, which was playing its fourth game in seven days, cut Georgia State’s lead to 13 early in the second half. But Kevin Ware made a layup, and Markus Crider dunked on an assist by Hunter to push the lead back to 17.
The Cajuns again fought, cutting Georgia State’s lead to nine on two free throws by Long with 2:13 left. But the Cajuns lost track of Ware on the inbounds, and he made the easy layup for an 11-point lead.
“Our guys were locked in and ready to play,” Ron Hunter said.
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