NEW ORLEANS - Manny Atkins’ putback with less than nine minutes remaining in Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinal gave Georgia State an 18-point lead, its largest to that point, and forced Arkansas State Coach John Brady to call a timeout to delay the inevitable.
When the whistle blew, Georgia State Coach Ron Hunter turned to the fans sitting behind the Panthers’ bench, pumped his fist and shouted “boom!” to emphasize Atkins capping a run that put away a leg-weary Arkansas State.
Georgia State, the top-seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, beat ASU 72-45, breaking open a game that was tied 15-15 midway in the first half, to advance to today’s noon tournament final against Louisiana-Lafayette, which beat Western Kentucky 73-72 in the other semifinal game Saturday.
ASU’s season is likely finished after scoring 71 fewer points than it did in Friday night’s four-overtime thriller over UALR.
“We obviously were more tired than we thought we were,” ASU guard Melvin Johnson III said. “On the offensive end, we just didn’t have anything today.”
ASU (19-13) tipped off Saturday about 17 hours after finishing a 116-114 victory over UALR that lasted for more than three hours, and the Red Wolves grabbed some early momentum, taking a 7-2 lead with 16:56 to play in the half.
But ASU started leaving jump shots short and its attempts inside started rattling off the rim as Georgia State pulled away.
ASU finished with its lowest point total in more than two years while posting season-low shooting percentages from the floor (32.1 percent),three-point range (20.8) and the free-throw line (42.9).
Ed Townsel, who had a career-high 32 points while playing all 60 minutes Friday night, scored two Saturday on 1-of-10 shooting, including 0 of 5 from three-point range. Johnson had 10 and was 1 of 7 on three-pointers after scoring 19 points Friday.
Kendrick Washington had 12 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Georgia State, which shot 50 percent from the floor while getting 20 points from Ryan Harrow and 16 from Sun Belt Player of the Year R.J. Hunter.
Brady was asked if the quick turnaround had anything to do with ASU’s shooting woes.
“I don’t want to go down that road,” Brady said. “That’s the hand we were dealt. You’ve got to play it. Play the cards. That’s for somebody to say, but I’m not going to say that’s the reason.”
Georgia State (25-7) entered Saturday intent on wearing down ASU, and the process began after the midway point of the first half. Harrow’s jumper was followed by a Rashaad Richardson three-pointer in transition and the Panthers outscored the Red Wolves 14-2 to take a 29-17 lead with 3:29 left.
Georgia State led 32-24 at halftime and built a 45-29 lead with 15:58 to play before ASU pulled within 46-36. Georgia State then outscored ASU 10-2 to force a Brady timeout, all but signaling the end for the Red Wolves.
“We knew after a while their legs were probably going to die out on them,” said Atkins, who had 12 points. “A lot of shots that they normally make, they were falling a little short. We were able to see that.”
ASU’s 27-point loss to Georgia State was in contrast to the first two games between the two teams - won by Georgia State by a total of four points.
Brady said he thought the recipe for beating the Panthers was to make at least 12 three-pointers. The Red Wolves had open looks against the Panthers zone defense, but they ended up making 5 of 24.
“That’s all we can do as a team is have the right people shooting the ball from the right spot,” Brady said. “Now, whether it goes in the goal or not, that’s another issue. … We had the team that’s capable of doing it, we just didn’t do it this afternoon.”LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 73, WESTERN KENTUCKY 72
Elfrid Payton scored 23 points, including the go-ahead layup with 1:16 left, as third-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette beat No. 2 seed Western Kentucky.
Payton was 11 of 15 from the field, grabbed 7 rebounds, had 9 assists and 4 steals for Louisiana-Lafayette (22-11).
George Fant and Price each had 16 points for Western Kentucky (20-12).
Sun Belt Men’s Tournament At Lakefront Arena New Orleans QUARTERFINALS FRIDAY’S GAMES Arkansas State 116, UALR 114, 4OT La.-Lafayette 91, Texas-Arlington 85 SEMIFINALS SATURDAY’S GAMES Georgia State 72, Arkansas State 45 La.-Lafayette 73, W. Kentucky 72 CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY’S GAME Georgia State vs. La.-Lafayette 1 p.m.
Sports, Pages 21 on 03/16/2014