Tech handle Northeastern 81-63 behind Kelly and Moore

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech started out slow against Northeastern but a strong night at the free throw line and timely threes by Miles Kelly put the Jackets ahead early and kept the pressure on the Huskies leading to an 81-63 win for the Jackets. Tech improved to 5-3 on the season while Northeastern fell to 1-6 on the year.

Head coach Josh Pastner was pleased with the Jackets' performance on Friday night.

“We needed to play the right way to get the W and a lot of positives, since Fort Myers, I felt like we didn’t play the right way, but at Iowa, we played the right way and protected the ball, but today we got hits defensively and our survival defensively is getting rotational rebounding and having a physicality as well. Defensively we got 7 three stops in a row. Jalon Moore continues to get better and better and you can see the same thing with Deivon (Smith). We’ve done as well as anyone in the country."

Jalon Moore and Miles Kelly each scored 16 points in the win. Moore went 10-10 from the free throw line with 9 rebounds including four offensive boards and three blocks. It was the first time since 2016 a Yellow Jacket went 10-10 from the free throw line when Marcus Georges-Hunt did it against Louisville on January 23 and he was 12-12 on free throws in that game.

“I didn’t know until the end of the game until one of the coaches yelled it out after the game and it was probably the first time I’ve had a game like that,” Moore said of his hot streak at the line.

Moore has hit 13 straight free throws over the last three games.

The talented forward has been compared to a young Moses Wright and Pastner said like Wright he is a raw talent they are developing into a key player.

“He is going to be really good and he is just scratching the surface. He is a late-bloomer and we were one of his few scholarship offers, he didn’t play a lot last year and I think he has a chance to be really good and he will get better the more he plays,” he said of Moore.

Kelly was 5-9 shooting and 4-5 from three in the game with four rebounds. Kelly was 2-19 from three against Northern Illinois, Utah, Marquette, and North Alabama before warming up against Iowa going 4-8 from three.

“These past couple of games I’ve been finally hitting some threes after struggling early. My teammates did a good job of finding me in open spots today,” Kelly said of his three-point shooting.

Point guard Deivon Smith played only 19 minutes in the game with 15 of those coming in the first half before a mouth injury sent him to the locker room. Pastner said that Smith had to get stitches in his mouth after getting head-butted.

Rodney Howard returned after missing the Iowa game due to a personal matter and scored 12 points in just 12 minutes of action off the bench with seven rebounds.

“Rod played some big minutes for us and he had seven rebounds and some big putbacks for us too,” Kelly said.

Pastner was pleased with the performance from Howard after some subpar outings.

“Rodney had a really good solid game today. That was good to see,” Pastner said.

Lance Terry was the other double-figure scorer with 11 points off the bench.

“I thought Lance was really good today and he made some big shots and did some other things that don’t show up in the box score like his hits defensively,” Pastner said.

The Jackets cashed in from the free throw line hitting 20-26 with 20-24 coming from scholarship players. Tech shot 44.4 percent from the floor but hit on 1-11 on threes by someone other than Miles Kelly.

“We do free throws and free throw conditioning and free throw pressure drills. At Vanderbilt and at Georgia State we made free throws and with Clayton State and it cost us the game versus Utah in Fort Myers, we spent time on it, we do a lot of time and score situations and a lot of time on free throw pressure and guys have to go up there and make it,” Pastner said.

After getting killed on the offensive glass at Iowa on Tuesday, the Jackets had a 15-13 edge over Northeastern.

Tech’s defense was stifling again holding Northeastern to 35 percent shooting and just 5-25 from three in the game.

Northeastern’s Jahmyl Telfort led the Huskies with 11 points while Jared Turner and Masai Troutman each added 10 points.

The Jackets led 42-26 at the half thanks to Jalon Moore’s near double-double in the first half with eight points and seven rebounds at the break. Tech held the Huskies to just 2-17 from three and 29.7 percent in the half. Moore missed out on a double-double after the official scorer removed a rebound and he failed to get his 10th rebound.

Freds Pauls Bagatskis missed the game with an illness.

The Jackets face Georgia on Tuesday night at 7 pm in McCamish Pavilion. Pastner was quick to point out his team has played well against some teams and they are continuing to improve as they hit another tough stretch of the schedule with Georgia and a highly ranked game at UNC next Saturday as well.

“We are still a young team and the more we play we will get better. I think Arizona is really good and Utah had them down 20. We had a chance to beat Utah. I don’t think we are that far off, but we have no margin for error, it is slim to zone,” Pastner said. “That margin is playing the right way, we are not good enough to give up 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 offensive rebounds. We are fast and not big, we are small in some areas so the fight, scrap, and claw have to be wired in their minds and guts for us to be successful.”

Tech trailed at the first media timeout 6-5 to Northeastern, but out of the timeout, Miles Kelly hit his second three of the game to give the Jackets an 8-6 lead. Tech held Northeastern scoreless for almost four minutes to carry a 14-9 lead at the second media timeout with 11:42 left in the half. The two teams missed a combined 13 shots in a row before Northeastern cut the Tech lead to 16-11. Tech went without a field goal for over five minutes before Lance Terry hit a layup with 7:35 left to give the Jackets a 20-11 lead. Northeastern cut the lead to nine, but the Jackets pulled away 34-21 leading to a late timeout by the Huskies with 2:44 left in the half after Miles Kelly hit his third three-point shot of the half. Rodney Howard appeared off the bench for the first time after the media timeout. The Jackets ended the half on a 6-0 run to lead 42-26. Miles Kelly scored 11 points to lead all scorers at the half. Jalon Moore scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds along with two assists and a block all in the first half. Deivon Smith left the game with a head injury in the first half. The Jackets held the Huskies to 29.7 percent shooting in the half and just 2-17 from the arc.

The Jackets went back and forth with Northeastern to start the second half with Miles Kelly hitting his fourth straight three as Tech led 49-36 at the first media timeout with 15:52 left in the game. Tech opened up a 21-point lead 58-37 during the next three minutes of the game going on a 9-0 run while holding Northeastern scoreless through the second media timeout.