JACKSONVILLE — Georgia State guard RJ Hunter brought the ball up the court and passed it to forward TJ Shipes.
The clock ticked down.
Seven. Six. Five. Four.
Shipes has one thing going through his mind as the chance for an exclamation point on a whirlwind comeback nears.
“Get it back to RJ, just get it back to RJ,” Shipes said. “As soon as he passed it he said ‘TJ, TJ, TJ,’ and I just threw it to him.”
So that’s what he did.
He quickly popped it out to his teammate who uncorked a shot from St. Augustine to lift Georgia State over Baylor 57-56, a shot that will insert into him into college basketball lore with the likes of Bryce Drew, brother of Baylor coach Scott Drew.
In 1998, Bryce’s Valporasio team was a 14 seed that upset No. 3 seeded Ole Miss.
Hunter’s 30-foot three pointer with 2.7 seconds left on the clock lifted the No. 14 seeded Panthers over Scott’s No. 3 seeded Baylor Bears.
The family connection is deeply intertwined in what happened in this year’s NCAA second round, and Hunter will be able to see his play on the famous montage at tournament’s end.
“I hugged my sister and said ‘we’re going to be in One Shining Moment’ because we always watched that as a family,” Hunter said. “That’s what we watch when your dad is a coach. It’s unbelievable, man. It’s a little surreal right now. It’s a little hard to digest and God looked out for me today.”
RJ’s dad and head coach Ron Hunter has his leg in a cast after tearing his Achilles tendon celebrating with his team after winning the Sun Belt tournament last weekend, punching their ticket to the big dance in the process.
Ron’s scooter has reached that of urban legend status and in the locker room after the game, he sat with his leg propped up on it triumphantly. The only thing missing was a celebratory victory cigar.
He joked with a reporter that there is a bet to be atoned for — Hunter’s owed a pedicure for the toes that protrude from the bottom of the cast thanks to his son’s heroics.
He coached the game from a stool and as RJ jacked up the game winner, his enthusiasm was so great he fell to the floor, causing his son to joke that they’ll need to get him a chair with a back on it for Saturday’s third-round matchup.
On Wednesday, Ron said he hasn’t been able to “thump (his) chest and say, hey, that’s my son,” because of his responsibilities as the head of the program. Thursday after the game, he did anyway.
“First of all, it was a great game but I’m not going to be a coach, I’m going to be dad right now. Proud as hell of this guy. This is my son. Proud of him, so I wanted to say that,” Hunter beamed.
For Georgia State to be anywhere near the position of heartbreaker, it took a mixture of a titanic choke job by the Bears and seizing of the moment by the Panthers.
GSU was late in the second half on a stretch in which it went 2-for-16 from the field, an offensive display colder than the waters in the North Atlantic where the famous White Star Line vessel sunk into that fateful night over 100 years ago.
With 2:53 remaining, the Bears were up 12 and looked to be coasting to the finish. From there, they went 2-10 from the field, missing their final seven, and did not score the rest of the way. They also had four of their 14 second half turnovers in that stretch and a shot clock violation to boot.
It was that ineptitude that allowed for the Panthers to strike, finishing the game on a 13-0 run. 12 of those 13 were poured in by RJ but none were bigger than his final three. None were bigger than RJ Hunter’s one shining moment.
“I was just trying to make a play, man. At that point I was just trying to do anything I possibly could. I think that first three got me going. As a shooter all you’ve got to do is see one for in, so once I saw that, I got a little bit of confidence I needed,” Hunter said.
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Georgia State players celebrate as they surround R.J. Hunter, center, after he made the game winning shot against Baylor an NCAA tournament second round college basketball game, Thursday, March 19, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia State won 57-56.
