What You Need to Know:
* No. 6 seed Georgia State fell to No. 7 seed Texas State 63-61 on Thursday night in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
* Redshirt-freshman Jeff Thomas led the Panthers with 16 points, knocking down four 3-pointers.
* Georgia State finishes its season 16-14, its third-straight winning season, second-most in program history.
NEW ORLEANS-Bobby Conley hit a 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds to play to give Texas State a 63-61 win over Georgia State on Thursday night in the first round of the Sun Belt Championship at Lakefront Arena. A half-court shot from Kevin Ware was off the mark as time expired, eliminating the Panthers on the opening night of the tournament.
After leading by 13 at halftime, it appeared Georgia State would move on to the next round when Jeff Thomas made a lay-up with 11.2 seconds to play, giving the Panthers a 61-60 lead before the Bobcats recorded the winning shot.
Thomas and Jeremy Hollowell led the Panthers with 16 points each. Thomas finished 6-of-9 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
Georgia State, the defending Sun Belt tournament champions, finished its season 16-14. Texas State improved to 15-15 and will face No. 3 seed UT Arlington in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
The Bobcats were led by Emani Gant's double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Kavin Gilder-Tilbury scored a game-high 18 points.
“Unfortunately tonight's game was a microcosm of our season,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “We built a lead and then gave it away. We turned the ball over at bad times and that just can't happen. You have to give Texas State credit. They were down at halftime, but played well in the second half, never gave up and hit a big shot when it mattered.”
Trailing early 4-2, Georgia State used a 9-0 run to take an 11-4 lead with 16:56 to play as four different Panthers scored. Leading 11-8, Georgia State used a 7-0 run to push the lead to 18-8 with 12:10 left.
The Panthers went into the locker room with a 34-21 lead, their biggest of the half after shooting 52 percent in the first 20 minutes and forcing Texas State into 11 turnovers which led to 11 points.
Eight different Panthers scored in the first half, led by nine from Hollowell and eight from Thomas who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.
Texas State opened the second half with a 7-1 run, cutting Georgia State's lead to 35-28 with 16:40 to play, forcing Hunter to call a timeout.
The Bobcats cut the lead to 35-31 with 15:09 to play as Georgia State started the second half missing its first five shots. The Panthers responded as Thomas hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to eight points with 13:21 to play.
On a pair of free throws by Gilder-Tilbury, Texas State cut Georgia State's lead to one, 46-45, with 8:38 remaining. The Bobcats would take their first lead since 4-2 on a Gant lay-up with 4:43 remaining to lead 51-50.
On the next possession, Williams knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game. Texas State would tie the game 57-57, but Williams drove to the lane on the next possession to retake the lead, 59-57.
Senior Markus Crider, who finished his career playing in a school-record 129 games, finished with nine points and four rebounds, which moved him into sixth on GSU's all-time list with 587. Isaiah Williams added eight points and five assists, while senior T.J. Shipes finished his career with four points and three rebounds.
Notes: Georgia State fell to 25-31 all-time in conference tournaments, winning titles in 1991, 2001 and 2015 . . . The Panthers are 3-2 in the Sun Belt Conference tournament since returning to the league in 2013-14 . . . The last time Georgia State was a No. 6 seed was 2012 as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Panthers won a first round game that season before falling in the quarterfinals . . . Georgia State dropped to 2-8 all-time as a No. 6 seed.
