Georgia State Claws to Sun Belt Title with 38-36 Win Over Georgia Southern

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

Behind a game high 18 points by tournament MVP Kevin Ware, Georgia State earned a 38-36 win over Georgia Southern in a defensive slug-fest on Sunday afternoon at Lakefront Arena to earn the school’s third ever bid to the NCAA tournament.

Georgia State (24-9) won its fifth-straight and ninth of its last 10 games to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. GSU shot 32.6 percent from the floor while Georgia Southern was held to 22.9 percent shooting by GSU’s stifling defense.

The Panthers led for nearly 30 minutes compared to just 34 seconds in front for the Eagles. Although the score was even only three times the teams were tied for more than nine minutes of play.

Behind Ware, Sun Belt Player of the Year R.J. Hunter was the second highest scorer in the game with nine, but was just 3-of-15 from the floor, including 1-for-7 from behind the arch. Markus Crider chipped in eight points and grabbed seven boards.

Georgia State took an early 6-1 lead, holding Georgia Southern with a field goal for the first 6:02 of the game. The Panthers pushed the lead to a game-high seven, 13-6, 13 minutes into the game as both teams struggled from the floor early.

The struggles continued for both teams as Georgia State went into the locker room leading 19-16 while holding Georgia Southern to just 24.0 percent shooting the first half. Ware scored 11 points in the first half as the Panthers were held to just 34.8 percent shooting.

Georgia Southern took its only lead of the game 30-29 with 9:28 to play in the second half on a layup by Kyle Doyle. Ware responded immediately with a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Panthers back ahead by two just over 30 seconds later.

Two free throws by Jelani Hewitt tied it at 32 with 8:11 to play. The scored remained tied for nearly three minutes as neither team was able to score until Hunter hit a layup at the 5:29 mark to put the Panthers up by two.

Hunter’s layup proved to be the final field goal of the game as neither team made a bucket over the last five minutes of play. The last eight points for both teams came from the free throw line starting when Eric Ferguson hit a pair at the line to knot the score again at 34 with just over five minutes to play.

Georgia State jumped back in front by two when Crider hit two free throws at the 3:24 mark. Trent Wiedeman then tied it with two from the charity stripe with 1:55 remaining, before Hunter gave GSU its final lead, 38-36, with two free throws with 21 seconds remaining.

Georgia Southern had two final shots to win the game but Mike Hughes and Ferguson both missed deep threes as the Panthers defense held to clinch the win.

Georgia State improved to 8-2 as a No. 1 seed in conference tournament history. The 24 wins in school history are the third-most in school history.