Hunter
scored 23 of his 35 points in the second half and was a perfect,
16-of-16 from the free-throw line for the game as GSU repeated as
regular season conference champions with a 72-55 victory over Georgia
Southern at a raucous GSU Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon.
GSU
(22-9, 15-5) already had a bye to the semifinals of the league
tournament wrapped up before the day began, but now the Atlanta school
will be the top seed during the league tournament in New Orleans hoping
to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2000-2001
season.
The
regular season crown also guaranteed GSU a spot in the National
Invitation Tournament should it suffer a defeat in New Orleans.
Georgia
Southern (21-8, 14-6), which will be the No. 2 seed and also not play
until Saturday’s semifinals, never led, though the Statesboro school
pulled to within 38-34 on consecutive 3-pointers by Jelani Hewitt and
Curtis Diamond 4 1/2 minutes into the second half.
The Eagles wouldn’t get any closer and Hunter was the main reason why.
The
junior hit a jumper, then two free throws and buried a pair of threes,
the last of which put the Panthers up 48-34 at the 12:22 mark. It was
down to a 10-point cushion at 54-44 when Hewitt (team-high 17 points)
knocked down a pair of charity shots, but Isaiah Dennis had a beautiful,
reverse lay-up turn into a three-point play and it was a 57-44 game at
the 8:19 mark and GSU’s lead never fell below 12 points the rest of the
day.
One
of the reasons Dennis (five points on 2-of-3 shooting) and Rockdale
High School graduate Kevin Ware (three points and two assists) played a
bit more than usual was due to Harrow’s injury.
The
senior guard went down with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury
with 7:53 to go in the first half and only returned for a brief moment
later in the period. GSU coach Ron Hunter did not know the severity of
Harrow’s injury postgame, though he did say he expected the Marietta
native back at practice Sunday morning.
“Don’t
know what the injury is (but) we expect him to be back,” Hunter said of
Harrow, who was averaging a Sun Belt-best 20.8 points coming into the
day.
“That’s
my scoring partner, and when he’s down you just have to do a little
more,” said R.J. Hunter, who was two points short of a season-high 37
points he scored against Troy on January 10.
Hunter
took a bit to get going and he missed all four of his first-half
three-point attempts, though his 6-for-6 effort at the line helped him
go into halftime with 12 points and GSU up 32-21.
The
Indianapolis native, who came to Atlanta with his father four years
ago, knocked down a jumper nine seconds into the second half, a sign of
things to come for the eventual two-time Sun Belt champions. Hunter
checked out with 37 seconds to play to a thunderous ovation from a
jubilant, sell-out crowd.
“It’s
unbelievable,” said Ron Hunter. “Four years ago, as a family when we
decided to make this journey, I had so many people tell me this was a
bad move, a bad decision. First thing (R.J.) said (when he came out of
the game) was ‘dad, we proved them wrong.’”
Curtis
Washington, who along with Harrow and Ryann Green were honored on
Senior Night, was a big contributor, adding 12 points on 6-of-11
shooting and grabbing three of GSU’s 14 offensive rebounds.
The
Sun Belt Tournament, which is played at Lakefront Arena, opens Thursday
with first-round play. With the victory, Green, a former walk-on, won
his 84th game as a player, setting the school’s all-time four-year
record.
“I
came into this program, coach Hunter didn’t know who I was,” said an
emotional Green. “All yesterday and all this morning, I thought
‘(Georgia State) gave me that chance’. It’s been a journey to say the
least.”
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