The Arkansas State men’s basketball team battled back from a 10-point second-half deficit to take a couple of late leads during its Sun Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals match-up against Georgia State, but the Panthers used a late steal to hold off the Red Wolves’ surge and prevail 65-62 Saturday night at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Arkansas State (18-11), the tournament’s No. 6 seed, got 21 points and a game-high 17 rebounds from Sun Belt Player of the Year Norchad Omier, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a strong defensive performance by a Georgia State (16-10) squad that posted 10 steals and seven blocked shots.
Georgia State, the Sun Belt preseason favorite and tournament’s No. 3 seed, built its largest lead of the game at 44-34 with just under 15 minutes remaining. It also held an eight-point advantage, 51-43, at the 10-minute mark before A-State charged back with a 15-6 run over the next six minutes to take its first second-half lead at 58-57.
A pair of free throws by guard Caleb Fields with 2:18 remaining gave the Red Wolves their last lead of the night, 60-59, as Kane Williams scored the game’s next five points on a jumper and three-pointer to put the Panthers back on top, 64-60, with just under two minutes left.
Williams also set the final score on a free throw with 25 seconds remaining, but missed his second attempt to give the Red Wolves’ an opportunity to tie. However, Williams posted the Panthers final steal of the night as he intercepted a pass with five seconds left to seal the outcome.
Omier, one of two A-State players to score in double figures, posted his 20th double-double of the season and collected nine offensive rebounds to help the Red Wolves score 14 second-chance points and finish with a 43-36 advantage on the boards. Omier’s 17 total rebounds gave him 353 for the year, moving him past Jim Ward (1954-55) for the second most in school history for a single season.
Guard Caleb Fields was the only other A-State player to score in double figures, recording 11 points, while Desi Sills and Markise Davis each added nine. During the game, Marquis Eaton passed Don Scaife (1971-75) for the fourth most career points ever by an A-State player as he now has 1,654 to his credit.
Georgia State held a slightly higher field goal percentage at .379 to .356, taking advantage of its fast-break opportunities that yielded 18 points.
The Red Wolves jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, but the Panthers responded with a 13-2 run over a three-minute span to take a 19-14 advantage. Georgia State, which scored 15 points off 10 A-State turnovers in the first half, extended its lead to as much as eight points before going into the break ahead 32-27.
Georgia State was led by three players scoring in double digits, including Williams with a game-high 23 points. Eliel Nsoseme posted a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks.
