ATLANTA— Devonta White's 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left forced overtime and Georgia State pulled away in the extra session for its school-record 12th consecutive victory, 101-91 over UT Arlington Saturday night at the GSU Sports Arena.
White finished with a career-high 30 points and R.J. Hunter scored 31 of the season-high 101 for the Panthers, who improved to 15-6 overall and remained unbeaten in the Sun Belt Conference at 8-0. Georgia State earned its historic win despite falling behind by 16 points with 12 minutes to play, squandering a three-point lead in the final two minutes and trailing 80-76 with 12 seconds left. Georgia State surpassed its previous high of 11 straight wins, set in head coach Ron Hunter's first season in 2011-12.
Reger Dowell, the leading scorer in the Sun Belt, scored 26 for UTA (9-12, 4-5 SBC).
After GSU took a 74-71 advantage on a trey by Hunter, Shaq White-Miller made a jumper and then his 3-pointer with 59 seconds left regained the lead for the Mavericks, 76-73. Brandon Edwards' dunk extended UTA's lead to 78-74 with 28 seconds left.
After White cut the deficit to two with a driving layup, he stole the ball from Dowell in the backcourt but missed a layup that would have tied the game with 14 seconds to go.
Edwards then hit a free throw for an 80-76 lead with 12 seconds left, and Hunter followed with an off-balance three to pull GSU within one with seven seconds to play. After Dowell made a pair of free throws for an 82-79 UTA lead, Georgia State's Markus Crider inbounded the ball from just inside half court with 2.7 seconds on the clock. Crider found White open on the far side, and White caught and let it fly, tying the game with 0.4 seconds left.
“I am incredibly proud of this team,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “The win streak is great, but it is great for our students, fans, alumni and everyone who is here to support us. We just want to keep winning one game at a time. This win was for the entire university.
Georgia State scored the first five points of the overtime on a layup by Curtis Washington and a jumper by White and UTA never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
Hunter scored 20 of his 31 in the second half. Trailing 69-63 with under six minutes left, he threw up a prayer and drew a foul for three free throws to cut the deficit to three, and then he tied the game at 69-all with a trey with 4:39 left. With the game tied at 71, White found Hunter in transition for a 3-pointer that put GSU ahead 74-71 at 2:39, the Panthers' first lead since early in the game.
UT Arlington jumped to a 15-point lead in the first half with a barrage of 3-pointers as the Mavericks hit 10 treys in the first half on 14 attempts. Dowell was 4-for-6, and Jamel Outler hit 6-of-7, scoring 19 of his 20 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Mavericks led 43-35 at the half.
For Georgia State, White, who was 16-for-17 at the free throw line, and Hunter are just the second duo in school history to each score 30 points in a game, joining Matt O'Brien (32) and Chris Collier (31) vs. Fort Valley State in 1989-90.
Ryan Harrow added 22 points, giving GSU three players with 20 or more points for the second time this season and the third time ever.
Manny Atkins finished with seven points, 12 rebounds and seven steals for GSU, which topped 100 points for the first time since scoring 105 vs. West Florida on Dec. 31, 2003.
Lonnie McClanahan added 20 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Mavericks.
Junior Ryan Green sparked the Panthers defense in the second half. Despite playing just four minutes, he came away with three steals.
Georgia State will remain home to host South Alabama on Monday in a game originally schedule for Jan. 30, but moved because of travel conditions in the Atlanta area.
