Ousman Krubally's buzzer-beating layup in a tie game sent the Georgia State Panthers to a 70-68 win over the Northeastern men's basketball team Wednesday night at Matthews Arena.
With 1.7 seconds on the clock and the game tied at 68-68, the Panthers inbounded the ball from near the bench. The ball went to Krubally, who was near the basket. He grabbed the pass from Dante Curry, pump faked and put the ball in the basket as the buzzer sounded.
The winning play came moments after Baptiste Bataille had tied the game on a three-pointer with eight seconds left.
The loss sends Northeastern to second place in the CAA at 11-5, 16-10 overall. The Huskies trail Virginia Commonwealth by one game and are tied with George Mason. The Huskies currently hold the tiebreaker over the Patriots by virtue of their win over first-place VCU. The Huskies are also one game ahead of Drexel and Hofstra for a first-round bye.
Though the Huskies lost on a buzzer beater, the game had come down to shooting. Northeastern shot just 36.4 percent in the second half, 40.8 percent overall in the game. NU's three-point shooting was poor as the Huskies were just 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Georgia State made its shots all night, going 24-for-43 (55.8 percent) from the field and 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) from downtown.
The Huskies got off to a great start with an 11-5 run. Chaisson Allen had five straight points, a jumper at 15:07 and a three-point play at 14:22, to give Northeastern an 11-5 advantage.
However, the Panthers' shooting kept them in the game as the Huskies could not get any separation. After the 11-5 run, Georgia State tied the game in less than two minutes after Rashad Chase hit one of two free throws, Curry buried a three and Chase hit a jumper off a Manny Adako turnover at 12:42.
The rest of the first half went back and forth, but the Huskies had a 29-28 lead going into the break. The lead would have been bigger, but Curry hit another big three just before the buzzer.
Northeastern went up four, 34-30, early in the second half after Eugene Spates drained a three-pointer, but the Panthers quickly answered on the strength of a pair of Joe Dukes free throws and a Leonard Mendez layup at 17:46 after Dukes forced Spates to turn the ball over.
Georgia State went up five, 46-41, after another three-pointer from Curry at 12:36. After Matt Janning tied the game at 48-48 with free throws at 9:24, the Panthers responded with a bunch more three-pointers. After another Janning free throw put NU up by one, Trae Goldston hit one at 8:14 that sent the Panthers on top 51-49. Two minutes later, Dukes hit another three. That was later followed by another Goldston triple at 4:25. The Panthers led 59-55.
With the Huskies continuing to miss shots, Georgia State extended the lead to eight on Trey Hampton's layup at 1:43. However, the Huskies did not quit. Adako scored the next three points to get NU within five. After Spates stripped Goldston on an inbound pass, Janning connected on a layup to cut the deficit to one possession, 65-62, with 49 seconds remaining.
Bataille then forced a turnover on Goldston and Janning took a three-point attempt to tie the game, but he missed. Chris Alvarez was there for the offensive rebound and put-back, cutting GSU's lead to one, 65-64. The Huskies fouled and Dukes made both free throws to make it 67-64 with 30 seconds left.
On NU's next possession, Bataille missed an open three, but Allen was there for another offensive board. He was fouled by Dukes and made one of two free throws to make it 67-65. The Huskies again fouled, but Curry could make only one of two, setting the scene for Bataille's tying three-pointer and Krubally's subsequent game-winner.
Curry finished as the game-high scorer with 18 points. Dukes added 14 points and eight assists for the Panthers. Janning led the Huskies wtih 15 points. Adako and Spates had 14 and 13, respectively.
Northeastern will take a break from CAA competition to play Wright State in an ESPNU BracketBusters game on Saturday at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 and streamed online at ESPN360.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
Georgia State vs Northeastern
02/18/09 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena
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VISITORS: Georgia State 9-18, 7-9 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Hampton, Trey....... f 1-2 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 0 0 17
15 Chase, Rashad....... f 3-6 0-0 3-8 2 4 6 5 9 1 2 0 1 32
02 Dukes, Joe.......... g 4-10 1-4 5-6 0 4 4 3 14 8 3 0 2 37
11 Goldston, Trae...... g 3-3 3-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 9 2 2 0 0 22
21 Mendez, Leonard..... g 3-6 0-2 2-2 0 1 1 3 8 0 2 0 0 34
04 Fields, James....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
12 Curry, Dante........ 6-10 5-9 1-3 1 3 4 1 18 1 1 0 1 26
23 Hansbro, Xavier..... 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 4 4 1 2 0 1 14
24 Krubally, Ousman.... 2-3 0-0 2-2 2 2 4 2 6 0 0 0 0 12
30 Lott, Kevin......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 24-43 9-19 13-23 7 20 27 23 70 14 14 0 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-21 52.4% 2nd Half: 13-22 59.1% Game: 55.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 47.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 11-14 78.6% Game: 56.5% 5
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 16-10, 11-5 CAA
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 3-9 2-7 5-5 1 1 2 4 13 0 2 0 3 31
32 Adako, Manny........ f 4-8 0-0 6-8 0 2 2 2 14 0 0 0 0 25
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 2-3 0-0 2-2 2 0 2 2 6 0 1 1 0 21
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 3-8 0-2 2-3 3 5 8 2 8 6 1 0 1 36
23 Janning, Matt....... g 4-10 0-6 7-8 0 4 4 2 15 2 0 0 0 36
02 Alvarez, Chris...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 1 0 0 1 13
11 Lima, Vinny......... 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 9
20 Smith, Matt......... 1-5 1-5 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 16
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 2-3 2-3 0-0 1 0 1 1 6 2 3 0 2 13
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 20-49 5-24 23-28 10 17 27 16 68 11 7 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4% 2nd Half: 8-22 36.4% Game: 40.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-10 10.0% 2nd Half: 4-14 28.6% Game: 20.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 19-23 82.6% Game: 82.1% 4
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Officials: Tim Kelly, Jerry Heater, James Barker
Technical fouls: Georgia State-None. Northeastern-Ojougboh, Nkem.
Attendance: 1970
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Georgia State................. 28 42 - 70
Northeastern.................. 29 39 - 68
Points in the paint-GAST 24,NU 18. Points off turnovers-GAST 9,NU 14.
2nd chance points-GAST 5,NU 14. Fast break points-GAST 6,NU 4.
Bench points-GAST 28,NU 12. Score tied-8 times. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-GAST 2nd-00:00, NU 2nd-00:08.
Largest lead-GAST by 8 2nd-01:43, NU by 6 1st-16:08.
