In a game that saw 15 lead changes, six ties and was still a one-possession game with 2 and ½ minutes left, Troy pulled away to claim a 97-90 win over Georgia State Thursday in a Sun Belt Conference game.
But, when all the drama, key plays and highlights were dissected, the difference in the game was Troy making 22 of its 26 free throws (84.6%) and Georgia State converting on only 18 of its 27 (66.7%).
Georgia State came out strong, leading most of the first quarter (largest lead of six points) and took a 25-21 opening period lead. The Panthers kept up the tempo and the lead through most of the second quarter, with a largest of five points, and took a 42-41 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, the see-saw ride continued through a tie at 56 at 3:46 on the clock. Visiting Troy finished that quarter with a 12-5 run to grow its lead to 68-61 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Troy upped its lead to 72-61, but GSU rallied with an 11-2 run to close to 74-72 with 6:56 still to play. Troy converted two technical foul shots on the GSU bench at 5:50 to make it 81-75, but Makeba Ponder drained a trey to make it 81-78 with 4:40. Ponder again struck to keep it 86-83 with 2:38 left in the game. In the next minute, GSU missed a jumper and a trey, while Troy made its trey and its two-pointer to make it 91-83. Madison Newby's free throws made it a two-possession game with 1:15 to play (91-85).
The 97-90 up-tempo style is the norm for these two teams, who own the Sun Belt combined game scoring with 201 points. Tonight's 187 combined points topped last year's 183-point game.
Georgia State (6-6, 1-2) shot well from the field (33 of 70, 47.1%) to edge Troy (7-5, 2-1) which shot 33 of 74, 44.6%). But, it was that free throw difference that mattered (22 of 26 vs. 18 of 27). Both teams crashed the boards hard, with Troy gaining a final edge with a 45-40 advantage after GSU's final misses. Troy made 9-of-32 3-pointers, while GSU made 6 of its 21 attempts outside the arc.
GSU was led by a pair of freshmen as point guard Madison Newby scored 20 points, but just 12 of 19 from the free throw line, while dishing six assists. Freshman forward Astaja Tyghter scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and made five assists. Sophomore Makeba Ponder returned after missing the last two games and scored 14 points off the bench. Junior forward Alaysia Mitchell provided a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The leading scoring in the Sun Belt, Ashley Beverly Kelley topped her 19-point average with 26 points, 22 of them in the second half, knocking down 12-for-12 free throws. Amahni Upshaw shot 9 of 12 to score 21 points, while grabbing 16 rebounds. Caitlyn Ramirez added 22 points inside with nine rebounds.
Both teams ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA in steals, but were both actually below their averages tonight as Troy came up with 11 thefts and GSU had seven. Each team had 17 turnovers.
"We were right there with opportunities, but they shot their free throws better," head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. "We were aggressive and did some good things like passing, hitting the boards, shooting from the field, but we did too many poor things like giving them open looks and some second-chances to score. The effort was obvious, but we didn't get it done on the scoreboard at the end when it counts."
Georgia State plays host to South Alabama on Saturday at noon in the GSU Sports Arena.
