Sun Belt championship
March 17 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, LA
ESPN2
Georgia State made program history on Sunday.
The top seed used a stifling defense once again to win convincingly, 73-64 and capture the Sun Belt title for the second consecutive season.
The Panthers, who held UT Arlington to 35% shooting a day after limiting fourth-seeded Texas State to 21% in the semifinals, have reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time. All five starters scored in double figures, led by tournament MVP Malik Benlevi, who was fantastic in two games.
Benlevi, one of four seniors who will play in the NCAAs for the second time later this week, finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the final and averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two games in New Orleans. Benlevi clearly wants nothing to do with his collegiate career coming to an end, and neither do his teammates:
- Damon Wilson continued his late-season surge as the redshirt-junior scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was the catalyst at the top of GSU's zone defense, harassing Arlington's guards all afternoon. Guard Brian Warren, who scored 21 points in the Mavericks' semifinal win over No. 2 seed Georgia Southern, was just 4-of-18 from the field on Sunday. Wilson was a huge reason why.
- Sophomore point guard Kane Williams, one of the most pleasant surprises of the season, added 12 points and five assists. Williams has gone from an up-and-down freshman to an integral part of an NCAA Tournament team in just 12 months.
- Another senior, Jeff Thomas added 11 points and was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
- GSU would've been much better than its 25-for-34 performance from the line if it wasn't for D'Marcus Simonds' struggles. The Panthers' top player, and absurdly their only all-Sun Belt recipient, was 2-of-9 from the charity stripe to finish with just 10 points. It's good news for GSU when the junior Simonds can have a tough night (he was also only 4-of-12 from the field) and still have a fairly-comfortable win in the conference championship game.
GSU, which as a 15-seed lost in the opening round to second-seeded Cincinnati in last year's tournament, received a No. 14 seed and will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Friday's opening round against another American Athletic Conference team, third-seeded Houston.
Georgia State made program history on Sunday.
The top seed used a stifling defense once again to win convincingly, 73-64 and capture the Sun Belt title for the second consecutive season.
The Panthers, who held UT Arlington to 35% shooting a day after limiting fourth-seeded Texas State to 21% in the semifinals, have reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time. All five starters scored in double figures, led by tournament MVP Malik Benlevi, who was fantastic in two games.
Benlevi, one of four seniors who will play in the NCAAs for the second time later this week, finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the final and averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two games in New Orleans. Benlevi clearly wants nothing to do with his collegiate career coming to an end, and neither do his teammates:
- Damon Wilson continued his late-season surge as the redshirt-junior scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was the catalyst at the top of GSU's zone defense, harassing Arlington's guards all afternoon. Guard Brian Warren, who scored 21 points in the Mavericks' semifinal win over No. 2 seed Georgia Southern, was just 4-of-18 from the field on Sunday. Wilson was a huge reason why.
- Sophomore point guard Kane Williams, one of the most pleasant surprises of the season, added 12 points and five assists. Williams has gone from an up-and-down freshman to an integral part of an NCAA Tournament team in just 12 months.
- Another senior, Jeff Thomas added 11 points and was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
- GSU would've been much better than its 25-for-34 performance from the line if it wasn't for D'Marcus Simonds' struggles. The Panthers' top player, and absurdly their only all-Sun Belt recipient, was 2-of-9 from the charity stripe to finish with just 10 points. It's good news for GSU when the junior Simonds can have a tough night (he was also only 4-of-12 from the field) and still have a fairly-comfortable win in the conference championship game.
GSU, which as a 15-seed lost in the opening round to second-seeded Cincinnati in last year's tournament, received a No. 14 seed and will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Friday's opening round against another American Athletic Conference team, third-seeded Houston.
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