Orlando, Fla. ? Sidney Green needed just three seasons to take Florida Atlantic from worst to first.

Raheim Brown had 19 points and eight rebounds and the Owls beat Georgia State 76-75 Saturday to win the Atlantic Sun championship and earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament.

Earnest Crumbley added 15 points for third-seeded Florida Atlantic (19-11), which let a five-point lead slip away over the last 1:27.

The Owls’ conference title caps off a remarkable resurgence orchestrated by Green, who played 10 seasons in the NBA for six teams. In his first two seasons, FAU won a total of nine games.

“We’ve worked extremely hard since Day 1,” Green said. “We all remember where this program was two years ago  2-28, 7-24. It was a big hill to climb.

“We knew how hard it was going to be, but we really stayed with it.”

The game came down to the buzzer, as Robert Williams, a 49 percent free throw shooter, broke a 75-all tie by making the second of two free throws with 6.1 seconds left.

Top-seeded Georgia State (20-10) had a chance to win, but Lamont McIntosh’s full-speed leaner in the lane rimmed out and when the Panthers couldn’t come up with the ball, the Owls stormed the court.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Brown, who was a prep star at nearby Colonial High School in Orlando.

Terrell Thomas had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Panthers, who won the league’s automatic bid last season when it was known as the Trans-America Athletic Conference.

Thomas, named tournament MVP for the second straight year, averaged 29.3 points and 10 rebounds in the tournament’s three games.

Murray St. 70, Tennessee Tech 69

Louisville, Ky. Â Justin Burdine scored 24 points as the Racers won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament. Antione Whelchel scored 17 points for Murray State (19-12), which won its fourth OVC tournament title in the past six years and earned the school’s 12th NCAA appearance.

Winthrop 70,

High Point 48

Roanoke, Va. Â Ivan Jenkins scored 16 points and Winthrop limited High Point to 32 percent shooting in claiming its fourth straight Big South Conference tournament title. Winthrop (19-11) used a 16-2 run to take a 20-10 lead midway through the first half, then scored the last eight points of the half to lead 34-21. High Point (11-19) never got closer than 11.