Georgia State upsets Baylor; advances in NCAA Tournament

Release from Georgia State Athletics:

 R.J. Hunter’s 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left capped a 13-0 run that lifted No. 14 seed Georgia State to a 57-56 victory over No. 3 Baylor in the NCAA West Regional second round at Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Panthers (25-9) earned the second NCAA Tournament victory in school history and first since 2001 to advance to face the winner of the Xavier-Ole Miss matchup in Saturday’s third round.

Held to just one field goal in the first 37 minutes, Hunter scored 12 of the game’s final 13 points. Georgia State trailed 56-44 when Hunter hit a pair of free throws with 2:39 to play to begin their comeback.

Baylor (24-10) still led 56-54 with 15 seconds left and Kenny Cherry at the free line. Cherry missed the front end of a one-and-one. T.J. Shipes grabbed the rebound for GSU, and it was Shipes who passed the ball to Hunter for the winning trey, which came from the top of the key about eight feet beyond the 3-point arc.

Hunter finished with 16 points for the Panthers, who played without second-leading scorer Ryan Harrow and his 18.7 points per game. Senior Ryann Green scored 11 points — the first double-figure scoring effort of his career — and handed out four assists, and Markus Crider added 10 points.

The victory sent head coach Ron Hunter falling off his chair, literally. The elder Hunter was coaching from a rolling stool after injuring his Achilles tendon as the Panthers’ celebrated their Sun Belt Conference Championship last Sunday.

Georgia State forced 21 Baylor turnovers while committing just six, helping the Panthers compensate for a huge rebounding disparity against the much taller and bigger Bears, who won the rebounding battle 40-23.

Baylor took an early 16-6 lead, scoring on each of its first seven possessions, but GSU cut the deficit to 17-14 with a 7-1 run, capped by a Hunter steal under the basket and easy lay-up with 9:27 to play in the first half. Less than two minutes later, a 3-pointer by Green tied the game at 19-19 with 7:33 to play, causing Baylor to call its second timeout.

Following another 3-pointer by Green with 5:10 remaining to tie it again, Kevin Ware’s jumper gave Georgia State its first lead of the game, 26-24, with 4:20 to play. Green scored eight-straight points for the Panthers before the Ware jumper.

On a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Taurean Prince, Baylor went into the locker room leading 33-30.

The Bears took 38-32 lead just over four minutes into the second half before another 3-pointer by Green cut the deficit to three, 38-35, with 15:55 to play. The Panthers used a 6-0 run to take a 41-40 lead with 13:15 to play on back-to-back jumpers by Crider. But the Bears held GSU without a field goal for more than four minutes and scored 10 straight points, moving ahead 52-42 on Royce O’Neale’s 3-pointer with 6:25 left.

After Hunter started the comeback with his two free throws, he made his first 3-pointer of the game with 1:36 left, pulling the Panthers within 56-49.

Then Crider tied up Royce O’Neale for a steal, leading to Hunter’s jumper that made it 56-51 with 1:28 to play. After a GSU timeout, Hunter stole the ball in the backcourt and converted the layup to bring Georgia State within three points, 56-53, with1:20 still to play.

Both teams were scoreless for the next minute until Isaiah Dennis stole the ball from Prince, who fouled Dennis. The GSU guard made his first free throw for a two-point deficit but missed the second. Georgia State was forced to foul and sent Cherry to the line to set up the dramatic final sequence.

Prince scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds off the bench for Baylor, but he was the only Bear in double figures.