ATLANTA- Georgia Tech trailed for much of the game against rival Georgia before going on a run in the second half to take a brief 39-38 lead with 11:56 left. After that, the Bulldogs pulled away and beat the Jackets 77-69. Tech under Damon Stoudamire has lost two in a row to their in-state rival under UGA coach Mike White.
UGA led 69-54 with two minutes to go before Georgia Tech chipped away some late with some threes and fouling the Bulldogs.
Senior guard Lance Terry ended the game as the leading scorer with 20 points but most of his points came in the final three-plus minutes of the game with 14 points coming during that stretch.
"We have to stay true to ourselves and we deviated some from that at times," Terry said of the offensive struggles. "I just kept attacking and we were running some plays that kept working and we kept running that stuff. Georgia is pretty physical down in there and I was trying to get into the paint and trying to draw a foul."
Tech shot 36.5 percent from the field and 6-23 (26.1 percent) from three in the game. Georgia on the other hand shot 46.4 percent from the field but was a woeful 3-18 from three in the game helping keep the Jackets in it.
"It was a really big win for us, it was a great environment, hats off to Georgia Tech and their fan base and it was really lively in there," White said. "I thought in the first 20 we did a good job holding them to 19 and then they got going. Terry down the stretch made a lot of plays and Ndongo is a handful that puts you in tough situations defensively. We struggled from three and we made a couple down the stretch and it was a very physical game down the stretch."
Georgia scored 18 points off Tech's 13 turnovers while Tech only had 12 points off Georgia's 12 turnovers.
"I thought our offense put us in a hole in the first half and I was happy to be down eight. At times we were our own worst enemy. It was a disappointing thing to me today, I don't like our mental makeup and that is the toughest thing about our team. Whether it is going good or bad I want to see our guys stay together. It is a team sport, you can't nitpick one without the other and you have to keep your composure. At one point, we weren't out of it. I look at games based on possessions, you can't look at it based on score, you are down nine that is three possessions. That is how I look at it and I have to give that to my team. When fatigue sets in 12 of our 14 turnovers were unforced and they mostly cost us."
Georgia had 46 points in the paint compared to just 28 for the Jackets. Tech big man Baye Ndongo was 4-12 shooting but 6-6 from the line. He had only four rebounds as well in 36 minutes. He was only 3-10 in the first half for the Jackets.
"Tonight he didn't play the way he is capable of playing, but he has set a standard for himself and that standard is not the same," Stoudamire said. "Him having to watch more film and lock in more and not taking possessions off and doing different things. I see a lot of encouragement in there, but it is hard to see when you are taking Ls. He has to finish at the rim, but he was 6-6 at the line. The critique of him and the beauty of him as a player, he tells me every day I want to be coached hard and I nitpick the little things. He is getting better and he will get better."
Freshman center Doryan Onwuchekwa had 11 rebounds from the post for the Jackets and was 3-5 shooting but 0-3 from the line including missing two one-and-ones.
"He is one of my favorite players and I like him because he allows me to coach him, but he also has an edge. Offensively once he figures that out, he is a guy as a freshman that can have his moments and be the best player on the floor as a freshman. He can shoot the ball and I was happy to see a three go in for him. He has a toughness that a lot of kids don't have as a freshman," Stoudamire said.
The Jackets had won two in a row under previous head coach Josh Pastner.
UGA jumped out to a 10 points lead in the second half 29-19 before a double technical on Javian McCollum and Tyrin Lawrence and a flagrant foul on RJ Godfrey sparked the Jackets to storm back and take a 34-33 lead on threes by Terry, McCollum, and Onwuchekwa with 14:34 left in the game. McCollum picked up his fourth foul with 12:41 left in the game on a hoop and harm to Silas Demary Jr. who tied the game at 36. Georgia finally hit a three during a Tech offensive outage to go up 48-39. The run extended to 14-0 before a pair of McCollum free throws made it 50-41.
Neither team shot the ball well out of the gate with Tech taking an early 4-2 lead at the first media timeout. Both Georgia and Georgia had five-plus minute scoreless stretches in the first half as UGA opened up at a 13-7 lead 10 minutes into the quarter. Tech cut the lead to one on a Luke O’Brien three, but the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to eight, 22-14 with just over five minutes remaining in the half. UGA stretched the lead to 11 ahead of the final media timeout with just over four minutes left in the half. Ndongo picked up his third foul with 34.7 seconds left in the half and the Jackets were down 25-17. Free throws were the only points in the final four minutes of the half and UGA held a 27-19 at the half. Georgia was 0-10 from three and GT was 1-9 from three in the first half.
Tech will have eight days off before hosting Cincinnati on November 23rd in McCamish Pavilion at 2 pm.
