ATLANTA- Georgia Tech rebounded with an 81-62 win over Texas Southern on Tuesday night to improve to 2-1 on the season after falling to North Florida on Sunday. Tech led by as much as 30 points in the second half but couldn’t keep up the pace and the lead slipped to 19 by the final buzzer.

“I’m proud of the way our guys responded. I thought the last game we had some uneven moments that cost us. They were a physical team and we responded especially in the first half on the defensive end. I was happy,” Stoudamire said.

Balanced scoring was the order of the day for the Jackets with five players in double-figures. Sophomore Baye Ndongo led Tech with 19 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes.

“We had a balanced scoring game. The only disappointment was the turnovers and I think it is human nature that a lot of teams not used to winning, when you establish that the second half was really sloppy and we have to work on us and playing the right way and not playing to score,” Stoudamire said.

Stoudamire had to adjust his starting lineup with Luke O’Brien out with an injury. True freshman big man Doryan Onwuchekwa made his first career start and played 27 minutes. Onwuchekwa was a force on the glass and defensively for the Jackets, but he was 0-2 from the floor and 0-3 from the line. He also added two blocked shots.

“I told you all that big lineups were coming and basketball is nothing but matchups and started DO tonight and I was proud of him. He didn’t make a shot, but he had nine rebounds and he gave us a physical presence. As he gets more comfortable guys will enjoy seeing him play,” Stoudamire said. “DO can help Baye tag team inside. The big thing with Baye is he is good when he pays attention to detail. The one thing Iove about Baye is he challenges me as a coach and when he is locked in and paying attention to detail he is a better player. I don’t care who you put next to him. The big lineup tonight was good to see them out there and we haven’t done it all year. It was a small sample size, but there are things to clean up with spacing and how we play. We’ve got to play bigger. I still love what the other guys are doing and Luke especially what he does at the four.”

Having Onwuchekwa on the floor a lot with him, Ndongo said it helped take some pressure off him in the post defensively.

“He took a lot of pressure off and as a freshman the way he plays he helps us a lot,” Ndongo said.

O’Brien is expected back for the UGA game but his absence helped the Jackets work on depth.

“Luke is treading lightly and he is shooting for Friday,” Stoudamire said. “I’ve been trying to add depth and last year we couldn’t withstand injuries. This time last year Baye was injured and Nait wasn’t playing yet. I look at the stat sheet and see Lance Terry’s name down there. He is such a valuable player and he eases those losses. He is not as big as Luke, he can play him with four guards and size down.”

George scored 16 points with 13 coming in the first half plus six assists and a steal. Fellow guard Javian McCollum added 14 points and five rebounds. Wing Kowacie Reeves had 15 points but he took 17 shots to get there. Lance Terry had 13 points off the bench.

Backup big man Ibrahim Souare played his first major rotation minutes as well as a redshirt freshman. Souare had five rebounds in six minutes but also had four fouls.

For the Tigers, Duane Posey led all scorers with 15 points off the bench in 18 minutes. He was the only Texas Southern player in double-figures.

Tech held Texas Southern to 33.3 percent shooting and free throw misses also hurt the Tigers as they shot 12-22 from the line. Tech shot 37.9 percent overall and just 11-36 from three. The Jackets converted 26 of 34 free throw attempts.

It was a chippy first half with three technical fouls on Texas Southern including two flagrant one fouls while Duncan Powell picked up a technical foul as well in the first half. The Jackets had three long runs in the first half including closing the half on a 19-4 run to lead 49-25.

“It was a really physical game and there was a little bit of trash talk. We had to match their intensity,” George said.

Nait George had 13 points in the first half and three assists with seven of his points coming from the free throw line. Lance Terry added 11 first-half points off the bench. Tech hit 14-18 from the line and 7-19 from three in the first half while holding the Tigers to 26.5% shooting and forcing eight turnovers.

“In the first half we did a good job on defense and in the second half I think we got complacent,” George said.

Tech hosts Georgia on Friday night at 8 pm in McCamish Pavilion.

Georgia Tech struggled out of the gate with a small 12-10 lead at the first media timeout thanks to a pair of early turnovers. The Jackets extended their lead to 17-11 at the second media timeout with 11:59 left in the half. Things got chippy after that with double technical fouls on Duncan Powell and Alex Anderson. Then Lance Terry was tackled going to the rim by Josh Farmer and Farmer was hit with a flagrant one with Terry hitting both free throws and Kowacie Reeves hitting a bucket on the possession to put the Jackets up 10, 27-17 with under nine minutes to play. Tech extended the run to 10-0 before the Tigers responded. Tech used a 12-0 run with several free throws to go up 21, 42-21 forcing Johnny Jones to burn a timeout with 3:40 left in the half. Tech ended the half on a 19-4 run and led 49-25 over the Tigers.

The Jackets extended their lead to 30 in the second half 64-34 before Texas Southern slowly chipped away to pull within 20 during a three-plus minute scoreless stretch by the Jackets around the third media timeout.