One-and-done Dogs say they’ll build off NCAA loss

And so is Fox, who recently signed a two-year extension after being with the Bulldogs for six years. He also led Georgia here to Charlotte and the East Regional in 2011. But after it lost to Washington that year, it also lost Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins to the NBA draft, as well as several seniors.

All three of Georgia’s juniors — Kenny Gaines, Charles Mann and Cameron Forte — are coming back this time, and the team has only three seniors.

“We have a lot of players who have had a lot of great experiences who are all staying,” said forward Nemanja Djurisic, who is one of the seniors. “We have a lot of good recruits coming in next year. I think they’re going to do even better. This program is building and the only way is up.”

Georgia fell behind by 13 points in the first half. It wiped out all of two of that deficit quickly in the second. But between the energy it took to get back in it and the Spartans’ unwillingness to succumb, the Bulldogs ran out of time.

Mann almost single-handedly got it done for his team. The 6-foot-5 guard simply started driving to rim in the second half and either getting the bucket or the foul or both. He scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime, six of them from the foul line.

“I just wanted to play hard and do whatever I had to help my team get back,” Mann said. “It’s a little frustrating. We fought, but we should have won the game. It’s a tough loss, and we’ve got to get better from here because we’re going to be back next year.”

Kenny Gaines overcame a sprained foot and foul trouble to add 15 points in just 20 minutes of play, and senior forward Marcus Thornton recorded the 10th double-double of his career, with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“We got ourselves behind and didn’t deal well with our first bout of adversity,” Thornton said. “We started off well and were playing very well on both ends. But we found ourselves in the middle of a downpour and that hurt us the rest of the game against a team that’s been there before.”

The seventh-seeded Spartans (24-11) advance to face second-seeded Virginia in the third round Sunday.

Making it even more frustrating for the Bulldogs is the fact that, despite their early foibles, they were twice able to get victory within their grasp. Georgia trailed by two with more than 15 minutes left in the game. Then after falling being again by 12 with two minutes to play, Gaines’ three-point play got the Bulldogs to within a single possession, 66-63, with 20 seconds remaining.

State forward Branden Dawson was scoreless in the first half, but got loose for 14 points after halftime. And Spartans guard Travis Trice seemed to score whenever they really needed it. The senior finished with 15, and Denzel Valentine made a bunch of free throws at the end as he scored 16.

“We just talked about fighting and pride,” Thornton said of the halftime rallying cry. “Those were the main things. That’s all you can do in a situation like this.”

After falling behind by 13 at halftime, Georgia whittled the margin to two on Mann’s driving layup just 4:55 into the second half. It was Mann’s eighth consecutive point in barely four minutes.

But the Bulldogs would sit on 37 points for three minutes and went scoreless on their next four possessions. Meanwhile, Trice responded with back-to-back three-point plays to quickly get the lead back to eight. Georgia did not draw closer until it was too late in a desperate final minute of play.

The Bulldogs jumped to an early six-point lead, but trailed 35-22 at halftime. Ten of Georgia’s 12 turnovers came in the first half and the Bulldogs gave up 19 fast-break points.

“That was a big issue, which also makes your defensive numbers look worse,” Fox said. “I thought we were just a little amped up. The great start almost worked in reverse for us because we got a little too excited and started turning it over too much. And then we played uphill.”