By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – On a night when the Old Dominion men's basketball team played hard and well and with a ton of heart, the basketball gods just weren't smiling on the Monarchs.
ODU had three chances to win against Georgia State Saturday night in the final 17 seconds, but missed two shots and then turned the ball over on an inbounds pass and fell to the Panthers, 68-65, at Chartway Arena.
Chaunce Jenkins led the Monarchs with 22 points and Devin Ceaser added 10 and the Monarchs also got a huge boost from a loud and supportive crowd of 5,996, a turnout that ODU officials praised given the team's struggles.
ODU leads the Sun Belt in attendance.
"Our players haven't given in," interim ODU head coach Kieran Donohue said. "Our players haven't quit. Our fans haven't given in, and they haven't quit.
"It is noticed and is greatly appreciated. We are very lucky here at ODU and we do not take it for granted."
The loss was the fifth in a row and 16th in the last 18 games for ODU (6-21 overall, 2-12 Sun Belt Conference). Most of those loses were close, some heartbreakingly so, but this one hurt more than some others because the Monarchs led late in the game and were a play away from putting the Panthers away.
"The closer the game, the more it hurts for sure," guard Imo Essien said. "We'd like to have one or two plays back."
With 5:35 left, the Monarchs were in good shape as the crowd applauded a beautiful pass from Essien to Dani Pounds, who dunked ODU to a 64-59 lead.
But then the lid went on the ODU basket, as the Monarchs missed their last eight field goal attempts, most of them open jump shots.
ODU trailed by one, 66-65, with 17 seconds left when Jason Wade came up big for the Monarchs, blocking a shot by Julian Mackey, who led the Panthers with 16 points.
The shot clock went off as Wade knocked the ball out of bounds and the ball turned over to ODU.
Devin Ceaser makes a running layup for ODU.
Jenkins missed a three-pointer with seven seconds left and Tyrone Williams missed the follow shot but the ball went out of bounds off the Panthers, and with 4.4 seconds left, ODU had one last chance.
With the crowd standing and cheering, Essien's inbounds pass intended for Jenkins was inadvertently tipped away by Williams and retrieved by Jay'Den Turner, who was fouled and made two free throws for Georgia State to build the lead to three.
ODU inbounded to Jenkins with two seconds left, but the Georgia State defense had pushed both him and Essien back toward the baseball, and Jenkins' heave at the basket never really had a chance.
"Once again, it was another terrific display of heart and competitiveness by our players," Donohue said. When ODU got down by 12, "our guys could have very easily quit. We bent and didn't break and our guys came back and competed."
ODU trailed by four at halftime but Georgia State was scorching hot in the early minutes of the second half and scored the first eight points, the last on a three-point play by Brendan Tucker with 16:20 left that gave the Panthers a 12-point lead.
Donohue then put his team into a zone defense, a move that turned the game back in ODU's direction. The Monarchs looked out of sync in their traditional man-for-man and the zone forced the Panthers to take outside shots after feasting inside the paint much of the game.
Chaunce Jenkins led ODU with 22 points,
Jenkins swished a three-point shot with 16:42 to go to start an ODU 10-0 run that got the Monarchs back into the game.
Wade tied it up at 49-all by making 1 of 2 free throws with 12:02 left. A minute later, Williams gave ODU a 53-52 lead with a fast-break layup.
ODU trailed 52-49 with 11:54 left when the Monarchs started another 10-0 run that gave them a good cushion. Ceaser capped the spurt with a fast-break layup that gave ODU a 59-54 lead with 8:13 left.
Georgia State cut the lead to two, 65-63, with 4:14 to go on a layup by Leslie Nkereuwem with 4:14 left.
ODU's defense shut the Panthers out on their next three possessions. But then Mackey made a three-point shot with 1:23 to go, and the Monarchs were unable to respond.
Donohue said ODU had a lineup in the game in the second half "that was working for us," and so he left players in longer than usual.
"Maybe the guys were a little tired. But I thought we had good looks. By and large we took good shots.
"The shots just didn't go. Hopefully Lady Luck will slide over to our side. We would welcome her with open arms. Because these kids are battling, they are really battling.
"They need a break, and we just weren't able to make the break happen that we needed tonight."
ODU Men's Basketball Plays Hard and Well But Drops Another Heartbreaker, 68-65, to Georgia State
Imo Essien had six points and four assists for ODU against Georgia State