Jackets smother Orange for 71-65 win behind Lammers' 23 points
ATLANTA-- Senior point guard Josh Heath hit three of his final four free throws to help Georgia Tech (16-11, 7-7 ACC) put away the Syracuse Orange (16-12, 8-7 ACC) 71-65 to give Josh Pastner his 7th ACC win and 16th overall in his first season on the Flats. Ben Lammers led the way for the Jackets with 23 points, seven blocks and seven rebounds playing all 40 minutes.
"Syracuse is really good and I'm really proud of our young men to find a way to win. It was not easy to do against a really good team like Syracuse," Pastner said. "They have great players and obviously coach (Jim) Boeheim is one of the greatest ever. Heck of a win for us and the crowd was great. They gave us a tremendous lift.
Senior power forward Quinton Stephens also played all 40 minutes logging seven points, eight assists and six rebounds. Lammers played 40 minutes for the third time this season becoming the first player since Matt Harpring in 1997 to do so.
"Ben has just gotten better and better and better and better. He is fantastic. He is a mechanical engineer and after a game this year, he was so upset because he played so many minutes and he had a huge test the next day and he thought he was going to be tired for the test. Nothing really fazes Ben," Pastner said.
Early in the second half, the Orange's leading scorer in the game Taurean Thompson picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left in the game. He had 14 points at the time. The Orange were held to 3-19 shooting midway through the second half compared to 10-17 for the Jackets and that opened up the lead to 12 for Tech.
"I think in the later part of the game we didn't move the ball the way we needed to against their matchup (zone) and we got some pretty good looks, didn't make them and then didn't get back twice on defense and dug ourselves a hole," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.
Some turnovers against full court pressure by led to the Orange cutting the Jackets lead to seven with 2:34 left. Quinton Stephens hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to 9, and then Tyler Lydon's put back made it 64-57. Tadric Jackson was called for an offensive foul on the ensuring possession. Corey Heyward hit one of two free throws to give Tech a 65-57 advantage, Thompson put in an offensive rebound to cut the lead to 6 for Tech with 1:39 left 65-59.
Tadric Jackson got a layup and was fouled on the next possession as he beat the Orange full-court press to extend the Jackets lead to eight points, 67-59. Thompson hit a leaner in the post and drew a foul from Lammers to cut the lead to 67-61. Lammers rebounded a missed free throw by Thompson, but had the ball swatted out of his hands to give Syracuse a chance to make it a one-possession game with 1:15 left. John Gillon hit a three with 57.3 left after an offensive rebound to cut it to 67-64. Quinton Stephens turned the ball over out of a timeout. Tyler Lydon hit one of two free throws to cut it to 67-65. Jackson missed a layup, but drew an offensive foul on Tyler Roberson's illegal screen with 17 seconds left.
"It was the right call," Pastner said. "Tadric did a good job fighting over the screen and it was the right call and that is the bottom line."
Syracuse fouled Josh Heath hit both free throws to give Tech a four-point lead 69-65 and then rebounded an Orange miss with 8.5 seconds left.
"I think our defense was alright, but our offense killed us," Boeheim said after the game.
Georgia Tech trailed 32-29 at the half thanks to a buzz beating three by Tadric Jackson that cut the Orange lead to three. Lammers had 10 points and four blocks in the first half while Okogie had nine points.
"Don't take this for granted. It is nothing short of amazing what our guys have done," Pastner said. "This is year one of a rebuild and I remind people of that all the time. This group of guys is a special group of guys and from where they were in April to where we are on February 19th is a special lesson for me. A lesson for me and anyone involved about what a team can do and how a team when it is together, the type of success you can have."
Jackson had 20 points off the bench in 25 minutes including a pair of threes. Thompson led the Orange with 18, top scoring bigman Tyler Lydon was held to seven points, but had 15 rebounds. Syracuse sharpshooter John Gillon hit three early threes, but ended up with just four on 12 attempts as the Tech defense held Syracuse to 31.6-percent shooting in the second half.
"I think we've all bought into coach Pastner about playing defense with energy and leaving it all out there. If the team is better than us we will get beat, but we will just stick to our game plan and play as hard as we can and I think that is why most people enjoy watching us," Stephens said.
The Jackets are 13-0 when scoring 70 or more points this season. Tech hosts N.C. State on Tuesday. The Wolfpack fired their coach Mike Gottfried earlier in the week. This was the second sellout of the year for the Jackets.