Tech hold off Georgia State 59-57 in a "road" thriller

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech took all 40 minutes to put away Georgia State in the first game between the two teams in the new GSU Convocation Center, but the Jackets managed a 59-57 win behind some clutch play by Miles Kelly in the second half including the game-winning bucket with four seconds left on a designed isolation play.

“We knew we wanted to get the last shot and we took the clock down and we wanted to get the ball to my strong hand and that is what we did,” Kelly said of the final game-winner.

“It was a gutsy win and we are a young group,” Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “To win on the road is hard and the parity in college basketball is tough, everyone is good. When things are not flowing for you offensively, we’ve hung our hat defensively and we found ways to grind it out and win the game in a Georgia Tech way.”

State stormed back down eight with under three minutes to go tying the game, but the Panthers could not retake the lead after going up three with 7:49 to go.

Kelly scored 15 points in the win just behind Deebo Coleman who had 16 points including 13 free throw attempts, he hit only nine. Coleman added five rebounds.

“Coach is going to be on me for not hitting my free throws, I know not every shot was going my way so when that happens you have to find a way to stay on the court and I thought I did the little things well,” Coleman said.

Tech big man Rodney Howard was a non-factor with no points, three rebounds and five turnovers.

“I thought Rodney played better in the second half, it took us a little bit to get going offensively and we got down eight in the second half, we found a way and we made big plays. Miles hit a couple of big shots and he had two big threes. Deebo did great on the glass, he kept balls alive and he had a lot of great tips even though he had five rebounds,” Pastner said.

Forward Jalon Moore added seven points including three clutch free throws late in the game off the bench. He had two steals and a block as well as seven rebounds off the bench in 19 minutes.

State big man Ja’heim Hudson scored 23 points in the game and had 11 rebounds off the bench playing 32 minutes and he carried State to a second-half lead before cramps slowed him down.

“I was just playing my game,” Hudson said. “I got cramps and our trainer got me right. Georgia Tech has good bigs, I just felt like I was playing my game and playing hard.”

The Panthers had two other scorers in double figures, Jamaine Mann with 13 and Dwon Odom with 10.

Brenden Tucker missed the second half with stitches after a fall in the game.

Tech delivered the first loss of Jonas Hayes' coaching career with the win over State. Hayes had won four straight as the interim coach at Xavier in the NIT and was 1-0 at State going into the game.

“We don’t believe in moral victories and we are going to keep getting better,” Hayes said. “We both made mistakes, but Georgia Tech made one more play than we did and I thought our guys were up for it.”

“You had two physical teams trying to win the game and doing the best they could and the refs did the best job they could,” Hayes said of the officiating.

“Georgia State is a really well-coached team and they play hard and are physical and we knew we would have to hit first to match their mentality and we had to grind it out,” Pastner said. “We played 10 guys and nine with double-digit minutes and everyone played really well.”

The Jackets turned the ball over nine times in the first half and had 13 turnovers overall in the game with just seven assists. The Jackets shot just 39.6-percent for the game and held State to 36.8-percent shooting. Pastner said he was expecting a faster start offensively this season based on their performance in the two secret scrimmages.

“In our two scrimmages we scored over 80 points and we were much better in the second half against Clayton State and we scored 97. We are going to have games where we struggle offensively a little bit and you’ve got to find a way to grind it out and make the corrections we need to make and we’ve got to keep getting better,” Pastner said.

Tech is 2-0 to start the season for the first time since the 2019-20 season. This is just the third time in seven seasons the Jackets are 2-0 in the regular season to start. Tech has not been 3-0 during Pastner’s tenure. The Jackets face NIU on Thursday night in McCamish Pavilion.

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Tech's starting five for the game were Howard, Lance Terry, Kyle Sturdivant, Coleman, and Deivon Smith.

Smith added seven points in the game and Sturdivant added five points but neither played over 23 minutes as Pastner rode a different lineup with Howard, Moore, Terry, Coleman and Kelly late in the game.

Georgia State went on a 13-1 run to extend their early lead to 17-9 over a five minute stretch in the middle of the first half. Miles Kelly snapped the streak with an old-fashioned three-point play and Deebo Coleman added a layup to make it 17-14 State. Tech smothered the Panthers during the next five minute segment to take a 20-18 lead as they held State without a field goal. Tech extended that streak to 7+ minutes to the final media timeout with 3:52 left as Tech led 21-20. The streak stretched to over eight minutes into the final three minutes of the half before an Odom layup gave State a 24-23 lead. Coleman hit a pair of free throws with under 90 seconds to go in the half to give Tech a 25-24 advantage. Tech shot just 34.8% in the first half and missed four free throws on 12 attempts. The Panthers shot just 30.8% from the field including the jumper that gave them a 26-25 advantage at the half. Rodney Howard was hampered by three first half fouls limiting him to just 11 minutes.

State extended their lead to 34-27 as the Jackets’ offense continued to struggle and Tech missed several free throw opportunities. Hudson scored eight points to put State up 38-31 inside as the Jackets struggled with interior defense. Tech trailed 42-35 at the U-12 timeout with 11:49 left in the game. The Jackets climbed within two on a jumper by Jalon Moore 42-40 with under ten minutes to go as they held the Panthers scoreless for three-plus minutes. Coleman tied the game at 44 with a pair of free throws with just over eight minutes to go. Jamaine Mann hit a three to make it 47-44, but Miles Kelly responded on the other end with a three and Pastner burned a timeout with the game tied at 47 with 7:27 left. Howard picked up foul number four with 6:43 left. Maxwell hit a pair of free throws with 6:17 left to give Tech a 49-47 lead. Evan Johnson missed three free throws after Maxwell fouled him on a three-point attempt and then Miles Kelly hit a floater and a three to put the Jackets up 7 with under four minutes to go. Jalon Moore added a free throw to make it 55-47 with 2:50 to go. Hudson snapped a six-minute drought with a layup 55-49 on the next trip up the court. Mann hit a jumper to make it 55-51 and then he stole the ball from Moore and dunked the ball to bring it to a two-point game with 90 seconds left. Kelly missed a layup on an isolation play. Moore fouled Mann on the next trip down with 59.3 left, but he hit only one of his two free throws to make it 55-54. Hudson fouled Moore with 36.4 left and he hit both to make it a three-point game 57-54. Tucker hit a layup with 26.2 left and was fouled. He hit the free throw to tie the game at 57. Kelly on an isolation hit a layup to make it 59-57 with 4.1 left. State turned the ball over on the final play of the game.