Liberty edges Georgia State 77-74 in overtime (Dec 04, 2017)
ATLANTA (AP) Scottie James scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz sank the winning 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to lift Liberty to a 77-74 win over Georgia State in overtime Monday night.
Trailing 74-71 with under a minute to play in the extra period, Liberty (6-3) tied it up with Pacheco-Ortiz's first 3-pointer of the night and then got a key defensive rebound with 27 seconds left after Georgia State's Malik Benlevi missed a 3 at the other end. Pacheco-Ortiz ran down the clock from deep above the key, dribbled to the right, stutter-stepping to shake off the coverage and then fired the winning buzzer-beater from outside the arc.
Lovell Cabbil added 16 points, Ryan Kemrite had 15 and both got five 3-pointers for Liberty, which had lost by a point in triple-overtime Saturday against UNC Greensboro. The Flames finished 14 for 26 (54 percent) from long range Monday.
Georgia State (5-3) was led by D'Marcus Simonds, who got a career-high 35 points, including a layup at the end of regulation to force overtime. Benlevi had 13 points and Devin Mitchell 12 for the Panthers, who shot 51 percent from the field.
