Liberty edges Georgia State 77-74 in overtime

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Liberty wins on off-balanced buzzer-beater

With the game tied in the final seconds of overtime, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz hits the game-winning shot around a defender to give Liberty a 77-74 win over Georgia State.

Dec 5, 2017, 03:08 am

ATLANTA -- 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.