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A Panther Point Of Pride
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Sometimes, all it takes are a few quick moments to trigger the madness that characterizes March in NCAA basketball. Each year, the single elimination nature of the tournament is bound to leave some favorites in the dust, as lower seeded teams find ways to keep themselves alive in the big dance. The Georgia State Panthers, a program on the climb in recent years under the leadership of Head Coach Ron Hunter, did just that in the second round of this season's tournament. RJ Hunter, the coach's son and the team's leading scorer, made what's become a famous go-ahead three point shot with less than three seconds to go to put the GSU squad up by one. A Georgia State team that's excelled primarily through its defense and often steers away from shots beyond the arc, shocked not only the Atlanta contingent with this one, but the nation. Coach Hunter, calling the shots from a rolling chair on the sidelines while forced to succumb to the limited mobility of a leg cast, had begun recovery just days before from an Achilles injury incurred during his celebration of the team's Sun Belt Conference championship. The cast and the rolling chair gained steam as quickly, if not more quickly, than the actual win. The resulting YouTube/Vine/Instagram/Facebook/Twitter sensation added another element of interest to GSU's advancement in the early round of the tournament, as the momentum of the win took Hunter's chair one direction and his body the other...flinging him to the floor, cracking his newly acquired cast. But greater than the shock of the win and the antics that gained speedy popularity in this social media-driven world, Georgia State's defeat of Baylor rallied a fan base many really didn't even know existed. Fans of all kinds: alumni, current students, athletes of other Panther sports and professors joined together in celebration of success many didn't perceive as being possible. While GSU fell two days later to Xavier in the round of 32, the pride pushed to the forefront through that end-of-game Baylor takedown, will give Georgia State fans something to cheer about for a long time to come.