Tech avenge early season loss and take down FSU 85-76

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech men’s basketball saved a strong performance for Senior Day and a pair of seniors Kyle Sturdivant and Tyzhaun Claude helped guide the Jackets to a 85-76 win over Florida State.

After a slow start in the second half, Sturdivant keyed the Jackets’ offense with 20 points off the bench and four assists. Of his 20 points, 17 came in the second half as he was 5-9 shooting and 3-4 from three in the second half.

"It was very emotional for me, knowing I wish my dad was here physically, but he was here spiritually. It has been such a great journey and to be here with guys like Ty and Carter Murphy here. I wouldn't want to go out with anyone else," Sturdivant."

Claude, Baye Ndongo, and Tafara Gapare helped Tech on both ends inside as they shut down the Seminoles inside game in the second half. Ndongo finished with a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds while Gapare and Claude both scored eight points with 10 rebounds each. Gapare added three blocked shots as well.

The Jackets' work on the glass proved to be pivotal as Tech outrebounded FSU 55-33 and scored 21 second-chance points. No Florida State player had more than seven rebounds in the game.

Damon Stoudamire picked up a home win in his final regular season game in his first season at Tech.

"Today was a good game for us. I thought we committed to playing 40 minutes. We had a little slippage, but I think that is the big strength and even in the ones we won, you do things you don’t want to, but 55-33 reboundings against an FSU team which is pretty good. We shared the ball and I’m happy with the way we played. There seems to be more of a commitment to each other when they are out there on the floor," Stoudamire said.

Sturdivant's season has been a special one for Stoudamire who is his godfather and a close member friend of the Sturdivant family long before he became Tech's head coach.

"Kyle has started off and on last year and I didn’t ask that role for him this year. One of the tougher things I had to do and I knew he would play a lot and he accepted him. That hasn’t been the relationship between us and sometimes between us, one of the things I agonized over was me and his relationship, doesn’t have anything to do with the box score, I’ve known him his whole life and I’ve known him his whole life. If you see me coach him differently that is why. With that said, it helped create things as the year went on and I know how to make tough decisions and a lot of decisions are on me and that helped set a tone from that standpoint,” Stoudamire said.

Ndongo added a key steal late that turned the game into a 17-point lead on a pair of Sturdivant free throws. That steal was indicative of effort plays made in the game by Tech.

“You can see some things happen on the floor what I call culture things, they don’t show up in the box score, but it show up for me and what I exude for a player in my program. Baye has been good for the majority of the year and moments when he wasn’t as good as he could be, but that is who he has always been. A lot of things happened in that game tonight where I can point out cultural things I’m starting to see. Diving on the ground in that moment and something we need a lot more of,” Stoudamire said of Ndongo’s key steal in the lane.

Tech clamped down defensively holding Florida State to 34.3 percent shooting and 3-10 from outside.

“We missed two or three layups and had some really good looks that didn’t fall and we got stops, (Tech) shot 52 percent in the first half and then 36 and 32 in the second half, but we didn’t capitalize on it giving up the offensive rebounds and that leads to a nine or ten point loss for us and a nine or ten point win for them,” Leonard Hamilton Florida State coach said.

Cam Corhen was held to just four points in the second half and Jamir Watkins ended up as the Noles' leading scorer with 15 points on 4-9 shooting.

The Jackets handled their business at the free throw line as well converting on 17 of 24 from the line but 17 turnovers helped keep the Noles around late in the game frustrating Stoudamire despite the win because more than half were unforced errors.

"We had 16 turnovers, but 10 of them were us. We have to take care of the ball. I’m used to the coach saying give him the ball and get out of the way. We have to stop panicking or having anxiety and you haven’t made the play and I thought that's where we are. I thought for 40 minutes we handled the pressure well, but not well in the last four minutes,” Stoudamire said.

Georgia Tech controlled most of the first half taking a 44-41 lead into the break behind 53 percent shooting from the floor and 4-12 from three. FSU’s Cam Corhen led all scorers with 10 points. Baye Ndongo and Kowacie Reeves each scored nine points (combined 8-10 FGs) for the Jackets in the first half. Tech had 12 assists on 18 made field goals in the first half, but nine turnovers kept the Noles in the hunt.

“My hat goes off to Coach (Stoudamire) and he had his guys ready. Even though it was nip and tuck early, I thought they had more energy and pounded the boards with athleticism. We came into the game knowing the things they needed to win were hitting threes and rebounding. Tech is one of the better rebounding teams in the ACC and when you look back at the game and the stats and numbers a lot of things were very close, except when you get outrebounded by 20 rebounds, whatever they found the energy and focus to do that, we’ve always been a team that has defends. This team has been consistently inconsistent. We will fix it, but that is the emphasis was a huge difference in the game,” Hamilton said.

Tech led for 36 minutes and 58 seconds in the game.

Georgia Tech attacked the basket early and held an 11-6 lead at the first media timeout with 15:50 left in the half. Tech maintained the lead into the next media timeout 17-12 with just under 12 minutes to play in the half. The Noles hit three straight three-point baskets to tie the game at 23 ahead of the U-8 media timeout. Tech managed to wrestle back a one-point lead at the U-8 timeout with seven minutes remaining thanks to a Miles Kelly three. Florida State tied the game twice but missed a bucket and a free throw allowing Tech to maintain a three-point lead at the final media timeout 36-33 with 3:49 left.

Tech started the second half very slowly with one basket in the first four minutes of the half and multiple turnovers. FSU however matched them and the Jackets kept the lead at two, 46-44 with 16 minutes remaining. Tech increased the lead thanks to poor shooting by FSU and good defense by Tech to six, 56-50 at the second media timeout with 11:24 left in the game. Tech extended the lead to 10 on a Nait George three off an offensive rebound by Claude and a quick pass from Reeves to make it 62-52 and force an FSU timeout. Ndongo picked up his fourth foul out of the timeout and Reeves picked up his fourth foul with 7:45 remaining in the game and the Jackets leading 64-55. Sturdivant hit a three to push the lead back to 10, 67-57 with 7:22 remaining in the game. Claude hit a pair of free throws to push it to 12 and Ndongo added a putback and Gapare a thunderous dunk on a dish from Sturdivant to push the lead to 16. FSU hit a few late threes to shrink the lead to nine at the buzzer.

Tech travels to Winston-Salem on Tuesday night for a 9 pm tipoff. Claude said he thinks Tech is going to be a tough out in Washington DC in 10 days when they open the ACC Tournament.

"I'm glad we ended our home stretch on this note and I think we are playing with good momentum and we will be a scary team in the (ACC) Tournament," Claude said.

The Jackets have two road games left in the regular season before that.