Jackets win a thriller 79-77 over Georgia

ATLANTA- In a drama-filled game, it came down to a couple of key defensive plays for Georgia Tech and some miscues by Georgia for the Jackets to pull off a 79-77 win over the Yellow Jackets.

Miles Kelly’s final five points and a free throw by Jalon Moore erased a 77-73 lead in the final two minutes of the game. Moore had a key steal with 7.8 seconds left after blocking a Terry Roberts shot to lead to the out-of-bounds. Those two defensive plays and clutch shooting by Kelly closed out the Bulldogs for the Jackets. Deivon Smith took a charge with 2.6 seconds left in the game to virtually end Georgia’s chances at a comeback.

“Early in the first half I missed the charge and I missed it and coach Eski (Brian Eskildsen) and I went back and forth and I said he was too big and then I sacrificed my body and took the charge,” Smith admitted after the game.

Josh Pastner picked up his first consecutive wins over Georgia as head coach of the Jackets.

Pastner said he was impressed with both teams offensively during the game. The Jackets shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half and hit 12 of 16 free throws as well.

“Overall, it was a really good game by both teams. It was a really clean game and both teams played really well, when you have two teams play well, it comes down to a thing here or there. I’m really proud of our guys and our execution in time and score situations and we spent a lot of time on that this fall. In a game like this or Georgia State, it paid off,” Pastner said. “Obviously Miles Kelly hit big shots down the street, and Deivon took a huge charge. I’m really proud of him. We’ve prided ourselves on getting guys better and we are still a really young team in a lot of areas. Lance Terry had a big charge in the first half too.”

Tech and Georgia scored on 19 straight possessions at one point in the second half.

Miles Kelly scored 17 points all in the second half with five rebounds, two assists, and a steal to lead the Jackets. Kelly hit a pair of threes, one in the middle of the second half and one late to pull the Jackets back within one down four late when he hit a deep three.

“I knew we were down and needed a big spark and those two threes really did it for the team,” Kelly said. “Our fans just showed out and were yelling and screaming and that was big for us.

Moore had 12 points, but just two rebounds, a key block, and a steal both on the final Georgia possession of the game.

“Jalon the job he did there late was really great. Him being in the position he is in, you can see him getting better and better and the more he plays the better he gets. Part of that is he has to have some better understanding of things in the zone, he had a couple of shots roll off the rim, but he had two big defensive plays late,” Pastner said.

Deivon Smith had 10 points with five rebounds and six assists as well as taking a key charge on a fastbreak from Roberts.

Ja’von Franklin had 13 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals as well going against some larger inside players as the Jackets' undersized center.

"I think it was good competition. I wouldn't say it was too difficult. It was a good challenge for us getting ready for the ACC play going up against those guys inside," Franklin said.

Tech had just seven turnovers in the game and 14 assists while Georgia committed 11 turnovers and had 15 assists.

“We had seven total turnovers and really we had six, I told Deebo to throw it long on the next play, I wanted him to just start the clock and that was our seventh turnover,” Pastner said.

For Georgia, Terry Roberts led the Bulldogs with 16 points, but his five turnovers were costly.

“What a tough finish for us and we were in a position to steal one on the road in the ACC. I feel for our guys and they’ve been through a ton of adversity until late. They played their hearts out until the bitter end. I thought Georgia Tech was terrific. We were in a great position at the end and they made the plays at the end of the game,” Georgia coach Mike White said after the game. “We ran a play that we thought would have success against zone or man."

Kario Oquendo scored 15 points in his first game back after missing the last two games.

Matthew-Alexander Moncriffe scored 11 points and had six rebounds in his first game back as well.

Georgia pulled ahead in the first half thanks to some hot shooting down the stretch and a cold streak by the Jackets for the final 2:15 of the half, leading to a 39-34 Bulldogs lead. White said that a slow second-half start was the big issue for his team. Tech went 2-13 from three in the first half.

“It was a good college game to watch and both teams had offensive rhythm there in the second half, they just shot a really high percentage in the paint and runners and 10-15-foot pullups and continued to convert. I thought our poor start in the second half and their great start in the second half was big too,” White said.

Pastner got the edge over Mike White in their first matchup.

“I want to give a lot of credit to coach White, his staff, and their program, I was reading something today, and coach White doesn’t get enough credit nationally. He did a great job at LaTech and at Florida he was the second fastest to 150 wins behind Billy Donovan. He took Florida to the final fours and had incredible success. I’m a big fan of his. He has been extremely successful,” Pastner said.

New football coach Brent Key, Tech alum and former MLB star Mark Teixeira and school president Ángel Cabrera were in attendance for the game. Key spoke at halftime as well to the crowd.

“If I was a fan, I would say that was fun and it was very clean, but neither team got a stop, we’ve gotten better and that is a credit to my assistant Anthony Wilkins, Julian Swartz and Coach Eski and we’ve improved from where we were in the beginning and it was big to see that improvement and when we play the right way, we are good. We run a unique system and it is outside the box on both sides of the ball, but when it is run properly it is hard to beat."

That was Tech's sixth straight home win and second win in a row as the Jackets great ready to head to Chapel Hill to face preseason #1 UNC on Saturday.

The Jackets opened the second half with a 7-0 run behind four free throws from Miles Kelly and a three to retake the lead 41-39 with 18:30 left causing Mike White to burn a timeout. Franklin extended the run to 9-0 before Mardrez McBride hit a three to end the run. Deivon Smith got an old-fashioned three-point play to make it a 12-3 run, 46-42. The Jackets led 51-49 at the first media timeout of the half with 15:23 left in the game. Tech trailed 56-55 at the second media timeout with 11:38 left in the game. After nine straight lead changes on possessions, the Jackets trailed 69-68 at the third media timeout with 6:53 left in the game. Tech and UGA exchanged leads 19 times leading to a tied score 73 all at the final media timeout with 3:58 left in the game. Deebo Coleman missed a pair of free throws and Frank Anselem put back a missed bucket to give UGA a 75-73 lead with three minutes to go. On a second side shot, Terry Roberts gave UGA a 77-73 lead with a bucket with 2:11 to go in the game. Miles Kelly hit a deep three after a defensive stop to cut the UGA lead to one 77-76 with 1:03 left. Rodney Howard stole the ball on the next UGA possession. Out of a GT timeout, Miles Kelly hit a runner off a strong screen by Howard to give the Jackets a 78-77 lead with 23.5 left in the game. Tech stopped a first-side shot by Roberts behind a Jalon Moore block. UGA got the ball back with 7.8 seconds left. Moore stole the inbound and was fouled with 6.5 remaining, he hit one of his two free throws to make it 79-77 and Deivon Smith took a charge with 2.6 left. The Jackets couldn’t inbound the ball and Oquendo missed a prayer to end the game from near midcourt.

Georgia Tech opened the game with a 9-4 lead behind some hot shooting from Deivon Smith who had five points early. The Bulldogs fought back hitting three shots in a row to make it 18-14 at the second media timeout with 11:37 left. The media timeout because Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe lost his shoe scoring a basket. The two teams exchanged blows for the next segment with Tech having a 24-21 advantage at the next media timeout with 7:40 remaining in the half. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game after the media timeout 26-24, but the Jackets kept fighting Jalon Moore hit a scoop shot at the end of a shot clock and then a layup on a fast break to give the Jackets a lead again 34-33. Those were the last points of the half for the Jackets who trailed 39-34 at the break thanks to a 2:15 scoreless stretch. Kario Oquendo back from a knee injury scored 13 points to lead all scorers. Ja’von Franklin led the Jackets with a near double-double in the first half with eight points and seven rebounds with two steals and a block.