ATLANTA-Junior Brandon McGee scored a career-high 31 points to help Georgia State overcome a 17-point first half deficit and give the Panthers a 74-71 overtime victory over Northeastern Saturday afternoon in the Sports Arena. McGee became the first Panther to score at least 30 points in a game in just under nine years.
On a day where Georgia State honored its two NCAA tournament teams at halftime, McGee's MVP performance were the most points scored in a game since Thomas Terrell went for 30 against UCF on March 1, 2002. Terrell was a member of the Panthers last NCAA Tournament squad during the 2000-01 season. McGee also pulled down 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Georgia State (11-14, 6-9 CAA) won for the third time in four games and avenged an earlier season loss to Northeastern (9-17, 5-10 CAA) in Boston.
"I am really happy for our guys," commented head coach Rod Barnes. "We were not very aggressive to start the game and turned the ball over way too much, but I thought we hung in there and started to play extremely well on defense to get us back into the game."
"Brandon is just so talented," Barnes continued. "I think that sometimes when you get junior college players, it just takes them time to adjust. I thought he had a good first half, but then came up huge in the second half and overtime for us."
After scoring just eight points in the first half, McGee led the Panthers' second half charge, but not until after Northeastern opened the second half on a 9-0 run and held State scoreless for 3:34 to take a 42-31 lead.
With GSU down 47-38 with 13:05 to play, McGee hit one of his four three-pointers to cut the lead to 47-41. The junior hit another three with just under 10 minutes to play, cutting the Huskies lead to just five, 51-46.
McGee's jumper with 6:50 to play cut the lead to two and a put-back, just a minute later, tied the game at 57.
Northeastern regained the lead and extended it to three when Jonathan Lee hit a jumper with 1:26 to play, the Huskies' last points of regulation. Lee finished with a team-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
With 1:09 remaining, junior Josh Micheaux, who finished with 13 points, drove the lane, made the basket and was fouled. He made the free throw to tie the game at 62.
Northeastern's Chaisson Allen, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, had his lay-up at the buzzer blocked by McGee to send the game into overtime.
State opened the extra period on a 6-0 run and never trailed, holding the Huskies without a point until just 1:23 remained.
McGee's free throws with 10.9 seconds left secured the Panther victory.
The Panthers outrebounded Northeastern 39-26. State's defense created 10 steals and blocked eight shots, while forcing 15 turnovers.
Georgia State trailed the entire first half, plagued by nine turnovers and shooting just 2-of-9 from behind the arc. Northeastern's Lee made a pair of free throws with 5:10 remaining in the half to extend the Huskies' lead to 32-15, their biggest of the game.
Micheaux made a pair of back-to-back steals, scoring five straight points, as the Panthers held the Huskies without a field goal over the final 5:10 of the first half.
McGee's dunk capped a 9-0 run, cutting the Huskies lead to 32-24. After a free throw by Allen, freshman Devonta White nailed a three and McGee made a jumper to send the Panthers into halftime down just 33-29.
The Panthers wore red jerseys to raise awareness for the American Heart Association. As part of the Spirit Week festivities, members of GSU's NCAA Tournament teams from 1990-91 and 2000-01 were honored at halftime, as coaches Bob Reinhart (1990-91) and Charles "Lefty" Driesell (2000-01) led the teams onto the court.
Georgia State will begin a three-game road trip on Tuesday, travelling to Norfolk, Va. to face Old Dominion. The game will air live on CSS at 7 p.m. and can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5 beginning 30 minutes prior to tip.
--GeorgiaStateSports.com--
