By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News Correspondent

The Huskies’ undefeated streak was brought to an end on Wednesday night thanks to a big night from a rookie who played like his father was in the first row.

As a matter of fact, Georgia State University freshman guard R.J. Hunter’s father was courtside, sitting in the head coach chair for Georgia State as his team won 78-73.

“I told R.J. I was giving him up for adoption if he didn’t play better because he was awful in the first half. I guess he wants to live with us because he played his butt off in the second half,” coach Ron Hunter said regarding his son’s game leading 27-points.

The Huskies (13-8, 8-1 CAA) had no answer for the freshman in the second half, after owning the first half of the game. The Huskies shot 64 percent in the first half, however, they were only up 46-39 at the half.

“We played a productive first half. I didn’t think we played great but we made shots and that makes up for a lot of mistakes,” coach Bill Coen said.

Much of that great shooting came from behind the arc. The Huskies shot 8-11 from downtown in the first half compared to GSU shooting just 6-15.

“I was really down on them in the first half because I thought we’re a much better defensive team than what we showed,” Hunter said. “But I told them, as bad as we were defensively, that’s the worst we’ve been all year and they can’t continue to shoot the way they were shooting.”

Hunter was right. After GSU tied the game 54-54 with 11:40 to play, the Panthers went on a 12-0 run. During the run, the GSU defense was able to hold the Husky offense to contested jump shots and R.J Hunter carried the load for their offense, scoring eight of the 12 points.

“He’s a terrific player,” Coen said. “He made big shot after big shot, late shot clock plays, just really kind of willed them to victory.”

However, just like they have all season, the Huskies rallied.

It started with a big three-pointer by sophomore guard Demetrius Pollard, after both teams had traded baskets. His senior captain Joel Smith kept it going by saving a ball from going out of bounds and converting it into a fast break lay-up.

The Huskies kept it going with an 8-2 run over the next 4 minutes. After R.J. Hunter lifted his team again with another difficult jumper, Pollard went coast-to-coast, converting a layup in traffic to make it two-point game.

“I was proud of our guys for our late second half surge and we got back into the game with about two minutes to go but we just didn’t finish plays,” Coen said.

If the Huskies finished their last inbounds play of the game, they could have tied the game or won.

Coen ran a play to get Smith open along the 3-point line but GSU would not give the senior co-captain any chance of getting the ball. Instead senior co-captain Jon Lee got the last shot of the game, but it was blocked at the top of the free throw line.

A big key to the Huskies late run was sophomore center Reggie Spencer, who controlled the paint in the second half. The Tuscaloosa, Ala. native finished the game with 17-points and nine rebounds.

Coach Coen also credited sophomore point guard Marco Banegas-Flores for his defense on GSU’s backcourt during the run. The good play was a welcome surprise given that Banegas-Flores minutes have gone down since the team entered CAA play.

“I was proud of Marco when he came in. He really changed the game defensively for us. We started to get some stops and clawed back into the game,” Coen said.

It was a second half explosion by the opposing team’s best player that killed the Huskies, a game after they held George Mason’s best player, junior guard Sherrod Wright to just 1-5 shooting in the second half.

The Huskies went on to blow George Mason out 71-51 behind sophomore forward Quincy Ford and Joel Smith, each scoring 15 points, and junior center Dinko Marshavelski scoring 11.

While the Huskies are no longer undefeated, Coen still said his team has high goals for the rest of the CAA season with the team returning to Matthews Saturday at 6 p.m. against Drexel University.

“Trying to gain that number one seed that’s so, so valuable,” Coen said. “Whether you’re undefeated or in first place you’re just trying to jock your position and play for seeding.”