Troy State knocks out Georgia St. in A-Sun tourney

ATLANTA - Eddie Baker hit a 3-pointer to give Troy State the lead for good and the Trojans scored the final 15 points of the game to beat short-handed Georgia State 71-61 Friday night in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. <br> <br> Troy State (25-5) will play Central Florida (21-10) in the final, with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. <br> <br> Rob Lewin had 15 and Herbert Evans 14 for the third-seeded Trojans. <br> <br> The Panthers (14-15), the No. 7 seed, dressed only eight players - including two walk-ons - after reserve forward Cedric Patton left the team to attend the funeral of his cousin in Huntsville, Ala. Leroy Davis and Nate Williams scored 17 points apiece for Georgia State, and both played the entire 40 minutes. <br> <br> Greg Davis added 13 for Troy State, and Ben Fletcher had 11. <br> <br> Troy State moved to Division I in 1993 after reaching the Division II final. The Trojans had some lean years during the transition, but they&#39;ve won or shared three of the past four Atlantic Sun Conference regular season titles. <br> <br> But they&#39;ve never won the tournament, so they&#39;ll be going for their first trip to the NCAA tournament against the Golden Knights. <br> <br> Troy State appeared to take control of the nip-and-tuck game midway through the second half, taking 54-48 lead on a layup by Greg Davis. <br> <br> But Leroy Davis responded with three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Panthers a one-point lead, and Daniel Towns added a layup later to make it 61-56. Those turned out to be the final points for Georgia State. <br> <br> Coming out of a timeout, Troy State ran a play for LaCedrick Pettway, who swished a 3 from the win to cut the margin to two. It was Pettway&#39;s only basket. <br> <br> Lamont McIntosh missed on the other end, and Baker hit his only 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Trojans ahead to stay. <br> <br> The Panthers missed their final eight shots and made three turnovers in the final six minutes. <br> <br> They&#39;re missing four players who are technically still on the scholarship list with the NCAA, including Andre Tooks, who was killed in a traffic accident last year. <br> <br> Two other players are academic ineligible, and junior college transfer Dontaz Dean left the team after two games this season for personal reasons.