It was the type of game that Kevin Ware had waited to play since he enrolled at Georgia State.
That it came on his 22nd birthday made it that much sweeter.
Mixing jumpers with drives, Ware scored a career-high 21 points to lift Georgia State to an 82-69 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena. He added six rebounds and five assists as the Panthers (9-4) improved to 2-0 in the Sun Belt. The team will host Texas State on Monday.
Ryan Harrow scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but did pick up a technical in the second half.
Big things were expected of Ware when he transferred from Louisville to Georgia State early in 2014. So far this season, he had done a few good things — including scoring a career-high 15 points at Oakland — but it seemed as if he was still trying to find his fit in the offense.
“Coach Sully (assistant Everick Sullivan) is developing my game to get me to the basket instead of being a jump shooter,” Ware said. “My game is not really 3-point shots. It’s moreso mid-range and attacking the paint. I felt they were playing off me a little too much, and when they did play on me I went right by.”
Ware’s production helped Georgia State overcome an off-night by R.J. Hunter, whose first points didn’t come until the final minute of the first half when he made a 3-pointer. The Trojans mixed box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses — schemes Georgia State hasn’t seen much of — to try to deny Hunter the ball.
The tactic was somewhat successful. Hunter, the preseason player of the year in the Sun Belt, finished with 14 points, nine coming from the free-throw line.
Georgia State also overcame the loss of starting guard and defensive sparkplug Ryann Green, who was knocked out of the game after being hit in the mouth by a teammate’s elbow in the game’s opening minutes. The officials spent a few minutes searching the court for Green’s tooth. The trainers discovered the tooth had been pushed into his gum.
But when Green came out, Ware came on.
He scored eight of Georgia State’s 12 points during a run early in the first half. They came on tip-ins, free throws and 12-foot jumpers, the things that he and Sullivan have worked on.
But the Panthers couldn’t shake the Trojans, who stayed in the game by making 5 of 12 3-pointers in the first half and 12 of 30 in the game.
The game turned in the second half on fouls called on a Harrow drive, and a subsequent technical foul called against Arkansas-Little Rock’s Josh Hagins with 9:14 left. Hunter made the free throws on the technical, and Harrow made the free throws for the foul to push the Panthers’ lead to 58-51.
Ware’s final points came on a 3-pointer, which made him wince.
“When I hit the 3 it was like ‘awwww, one more point,’” Ware said of the count he was performing in his head.
To celebrate his birthday, Ware said he was going to eat with his family and rest for Monday’s game.
“I just want wins, I don’t have a lot of celebrating to do,” he said.
To keep the offense going, Ware said he just needs to maintain his patience and continue to work hard with Sullivan in practice.
Coach Ron Hunter had another idea, more in the line with the movie, “Groundhog Day.”
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