ATLANTA?Freshman James Fields scored 17 points, all in the second half, and Leonard Mendez added 16 as Georgia State overcame a sluggish performance and a hot-shooting Oglethorpe team for an 85-80 exhibition victory Thursday at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
Alex Richey poured in 32 points for Oglethorpe, which spread the floor, hitting 14 three-pointers and collecting 13 offensive rebounds against the much taller Panthers. Richey made 8-of-13 from three-point range.
Trailing much of the game, Georgia State did not take the lead for good until Bernard Rimmer's basket with 3:37 left put the Panthers ahead, 74-72.
“First of all, give a lot of credit to Oglethorpe; they outhustled us and outexecuted us,” said second-year head coach Rod Barnes. “This was a great game for us to play because they were totally opposite of the way we've been practicing.
“We've been practicing at a very fast pace, and then you get someone who spreads it out and slows it down, and we never found a rhythm. It's so early in practice that we haven't really put in our zone offense, and they made us pay for it.
“But with so many new players, we wanted to get on the court early with this group and experiment with different combinations. There are so many things we can teach from this game.”
Fields, a rookie from Savannah, Ga., ran the point most of the second half as starting point guard Joe Dukes, the transfer from Wake Forest, sat out with cramps. He scored eight straight points in one stretch in the second half, helping the Panthers turn a 57-50 deficit into a 60-57 advantage with 10 minutes to play for State's first lead since the opening minutes.
Oglethorpe briefly regained the lead at 72-70 on steal and basket by Todd Ward with 4:50 left, but Georgia State answered with seven straight points, capped by a three-pointer by Fields, to pull ahead 77-72 with 2:37 on the clock. The Petrels hit two three-pointers in the final minute, pulling within 82-80 with 20 seconds left, but State sealed it at the free throw line, including 4-for-4 by Fields.
Senior all-star candidate Leonard Mendez contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Panthers. Dukes had 13 points and three assists in just 22 minutes, and Rimmer added 11 points and six rebounds on 5-for-5 shooting from the field.
“We got a chance to play a lot of people,” said Barnes, whose squad shot 50 percent from the field. “We got to look at James Fields for most of the second half, and he showed me that he could make plays.”
Georgia State plays its second exhibition Nov. 6 versus Clark Atlanta at the Sports Arena. The Panthers open the season at the NABC Classic, Nov. 14-16 in Minneapolis, Minn., facing Bowling Green, Concordia-St. Paul and host Minnesota.
