ATLANTA-Jihad Ali rebounded a missed shot and made a layup as time expired to lift Georgia State to 64-63 victory over James Madison in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
With the score tied 62-all, James Madison's (6-2, 0-1 CAA) Devon Moore went to the free throw line with 3.5 seconds left. He made the first to put the Dukes ahead, but missed the second, and Brandon McGee rebounded for Georgia State (3-3, 1-0 CAA). After a timeout, the Panthers' Harold Doby inbounded the ball from in front of the JMU bench with 2.7 seconds on the clock.
Doby found Marques Johnson, who got a good look from the wing, but the JMU's Andrey Semenov managed to deflect the shot. Ali grabbed the rebound under the basket and laid it in just ahead of the horn.
"I told our team, never feel like we cannot win the game," said GSU head coach Rod Barnes. "You've got to believe, until the game is over, that we're going to win it, and we talked about that in the huddle. Marques got off a good shot, and Jihad made a great play to grab the rebound.
"I'm very happy for our team to finally win a close one," continued Barnes, whose squad was coming off consecutive overtime losses.
GSU overcame a 21-point, 15-rebound effort by JMU's 6-10 standout Denzel Bowles with a balanced attack. The Panthers were led by a pair of players of the bench as McGee scored 15 points and junior Josh Micheaux added 12. Ali contributed eight points and career-high 10 rebounds.
With the challenge of defending Bowles in the post, the Panthers used their depth.
"We knew he was going to make shots, he's that good," said Barnes. "We talked about not letting him catch it. Early on, we let him catch it too easily and we didn't put enough ball pressure on their guards. Down the stretch, I thought Harold Doby did a good job on him."
After McGee's three-point play gave Georgia State a 60-55 lead with just under five minutes to go, Julius Wells nailed his second straight trey for the Dukes, pulling them within two. Eric Buckner answered with a layup to put GSU up 62-58 with three minutes left.
From there, Semenov and Moore each hit one of two free throws for James Madison before Bowles tied the game at 62-all with a pair from the charity strip with 26 seconds left. After a GSU turnover, Moore put a short jumper in the lane, and James Fields was called for the foul with three seconds. He made the first, but missed the second, setting up the last-second heroics.
Coming off a double-double on Tuesday at Hampton, junior Eric Buckner added eight points and seven rebounds in just 13 minutes of action.
The Panthers will return to action on Dec. 11, hosting Western Michigan at 8 p.m.
--GeorgiaStateSports.com--
