The father-son duo of men’s basketball head coach Ron Hunter and sophomore R.J. Hunter took home the top awards of the Sun Belt Conference post-season awards announced Tuesday afternoon.
Ron Hunter was awarded Sun Belt Coach of the Year in just his first year coaching in the conference after leading his team to a 17-1 conference record defeating every team in the conference twice except Troy. Hunter is in his third year at Georgia State and 20th year of head coaching.
R.J. Hunter took home the Sun Belt Player of the Year award after leading the conference in scoring in Sun Belt games averaging 19.3 points per game. Hunter also is in the top five in the conference in scoring, free-throw percentage, steals, 3-point percentage, 3-pointers and minutes.
Hunter, along with teammate Ryan Harrow, made the First All-Sun Belt team while Manny Atkins made the Second and Devonta White the Third All-Sun Belt teams.
“I am so proud that four members of our team were able to earn all-conference recognition,” Hunter said to Georgia State Athletics. “I don’t know that I have ever seen that happen before.”
The women’s basketball team saw its share of recognition as senior Kendra Long made the Third All-Sun Belt Conference team. Long led the Panthers in scoring averaging 14 points per game ranking No. 10 in the conference.
The men’s team finished as outright conference champions thus nabbed a No. 1 seed for the Sun Belt Tournament. The men’s tournament begins Thursday in New Orleans, but the men received a double bye slotting them to start in the semifinals on Saturday 2 p.m. central time.
The women’s team claimed the No. 5 seed in the tournament, also in New Orleans, and will face No. 4 Texas State in the first-round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. central time.
