SYRACUSE, NY—Georgia Tech came into the JMA Wireless Dome riding a three-game winning streak but finished the day with a 62-55 loss to Syracuse. Both teams struggled in the first half, and their play didn’t improve much in the second half either. Tech fell to 8-8 on the year and 2-3 in ACC play while the Orange improved to 7-8 and 1-3 in league play notching their first league victory on Tuesday night.

Tech’s offense which head coach Damon Stoudamire emphasizes ball movement was held to 36.4 percent shooting and just eight assists on 24 made field goals.

"We had eight assists, we've got to be better in that area. To me, it came down to dribble, dribble, dribble, and we passed up some shots and got a little gunshy. We've got to do a better job of figuring out the game and letting the game settle into the flow when things aren't going your way," Stoudamire said. "Guys have to figure out how to get other guys an easy shot and settle us down on the floor. Those are the things you have to learn and this was our first true road game, but that is no excuse because we don't play every conference game at home."

The Jackets' lone bright spot offensively was guard Lance Terry, who had 18 points and was 3-8 from three, making three of the four three-pointers Tech made on 21 shots from three.

Free throws also were an issue for the Jackets with Baye Ndongo, Ryan Mutombo and freshman Jaeden Mustaf each missing and-one free throws and the Jackets shooting a woeful 3-11 from the charity stripe.

“We just have to get back at it, especially me,” Terry said. “I’ve struggled the past two games and I missed the first one of this game, but we just have to keep shooting them and keep working at them and we just really have to settle down when the game gets kind of intense.”

Naithan George was the only other Jacket in double figures with 13 points but he was 6-15 shooting and 1-7 from three while having five of the eight assists in the game. Javian McCollum and Duncan Powell who combined for 73 points off the Tech bench over the last two ACC games had just eight total points with McCollum going 3-13 shooting and 0-4 from three.

Syracuse guard JJ Starling led the Orange with 21 points and five rebounds, but he also had four of the Orange's 18 turnovers. Center Eddie Lampkin had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds including five offensive boards. The Orange had 10 second-chance points to Tech's 7. Chris Bell was big down the stretch for Cuse as well with 13 points and a pair of free throws and a jumper to help close out the win.

A dreadful first half for both teams saw a 25-24 score at the break highlighted by 10 Syracuse turnovers, eight by the Jackets and Tech shooting under 30 percent 29.7 for the half while the Orange were slightly better at 36.7 percent.

"We came out a little antsy in the first half. We turned it over when we got into transition and that kind of stopped us from getting our flow and getting our feel for the game pretty early on," Terry said of the slow start.

Tech will aim to get their first road win of the year at SMU on Saturday afternoon.

It took Georgia Tech 4:09 of game time to score the first basket after starting 0-6 from the floor. The Jackets trailed 7-2 at the first media timeout with under 15 minutes left in the half. Jaeden Mustaf scored on two fast breaks to pull the Jackets within one at the second media timeout with 11:49 left in the half 9-8. The Orange squeezed out a 23-21 lead at the final media timeout of the half with 3:06 left as both teams struggled defensively. Tech cut the lead to one with 45 seconds left and a defensive rebound and timeout by Stoudamire set up a final play in the first half with Tech trailing 25-24 and 7.9 left on the clock. The Orange fouled with 4.9 left and both Mustaf and Powell missed putbacks off a Terry miss.

Terry hit a three and then added a free throw on the next trip down to give the Jackets their first lead of the game with just over 16 minutes remaining, 30-29. The Orange fought back with a 6-0 run to take a 35-30 lead in the game and Stoudamire used a timeout with 13:28 left. Ryan Mutombo’s basket gave Tech a 36-35 lead. Ndongo extended the lead to three, 38-35 but the Starling hit a three to tie the game again at 38. The Orange used their own 7-0 run to retake the lead 47-40. Tech cut it to five at the U-8 timeout. Petar Majstorovic picked up his third and fourth foul out of the media timeout. Stoudamire used his second timeout with 4:13 left and the Jackets down eight 52-44 after giving up several offensive rebounds. Lance Terry’s fastbreak layup cut the Orange lead to six with 3:26 left in the game 52-46. After a stop on defense, George hit a bucket to cut it to four, but Chris Bell responded with a two of his own. Powell scored a layup with 1:44 left to make it 54-50, but Starling responded with jumper on the other end. Terry added two free throws with 1:03 left and Cuse used a timeout with 55.3 left. Jyare Davis hit a jumper and then Terry followed with a three to make it a 58-55 game with 27.8 left. Stoudamire used his final timeout to set the defense. Mustaf fouled Starling with 27.1 remaining and he hit both free throws to push it to five. Ndongo missed the corner three and Tech fouled with 13.2 left Bell hit both free throws to ice the game 62-55.