Tech snaps losing skid 70-68 with Terry's buzzer beating tip against ND

ATLANTA- A similar script from several Georgia Tech-Notre Dame games played out on Wednesday night in McCamish Pavilion, but this time the tough-luck Jackets came out on top 70-68 thanks to a Lance Terry tip-in off a missed shot by Kyle Sturdivant on the left wing.

Terry led the way for the Jackets with a Tech career-high 19 points, three rebounds, and three assists while shooting 3-6 from three.

“I felt great to get a win, especially against a team we already lost to and we want to try to keep it going next game,” Terry said. “On the game-winning play we were trying to get Kyle the ball to his left and when I saw it go short I went to tip it in and it fell.”

The Jackets led most of the game, but a 10-0 just before the eight-minute mark gave the Irish a six-point lead and all the momentum. Pastner burned a timeout and reset his team lead to an easy bucket on a lob to Ja’von Franklin and that killed all the Notre Dame momentum leading to the final two segments of the game. Tech went on 8-4 runs after the final two media timeouts to erase Notre Dame’s lead.

“I got in our huddle and I said they got up because of our shot selection, we had three consecutive plays, Ja’von had the silly offensive foul, Kyle took a tough shot and Miles took a tough shot that wasn’t good and that led to easy opportunities for Notre Dame. When we play crisp good things happen,” Pastner said.

Terry has played all but one plus minute of action since returning from a hamstring injury logging all 40 minutes on Wednesday and 38-plus minutes at NC State. Terry played 40 minutes in both of Tech's ACC wins this season against Miami and Notre Dame.

Tech had been outshot in eight straight games before NC State, the win over Miami and Wednesday's win over Notre Dame marked just the third time in ACC play the Jackets outshot their opponents.

“I think our last three games have been our best with how hard we play and our effort and I think today was our best game moving the ball and everyone was touching the ball,” Terry said.

Tech lost in overtime earlier this season at Notre Dame 73-72 on a buzzer-beater by Trey Wertz that sent that game to overtime last month in South Bend. It was one of several games that slipped away from the Jackets late in the second half.

“It was a good win for us. We had a chance on Saturday at NC State and the game before that and we’ve been snakebit and a couple of bounces finally went our way, in this year the ball hasn’t bounced our way. I’m proud of our guys and I’ve talked to our guys, I’ve never been through this stretch in my life, I’ve been a longtime coach at AAU, Arizona or Memphis or here, I’ve not been through this, I told my guys what shows during this is your character, integrity and principle, those are lessons you can take from basketball and put into your life,” he said. “That allowed us to get the win today, we had to win today and it was a good character win for our guys.”

A strong week in practice for Franklin boosted his confidence as he added 16 points, nine rebounds, a block, a steal and three assists while hitting 4-5 from the line in 31 minutes of action manning the post.

“I think this was a confidence boosters going into these final games and trying to finish the game the right way,” Franklin said. “We’ve been practicing very well and everyone is buy in to coach and we had a rough stretch, but everyone is playing well now and sharing the ball and that will get us going.”

Late in the game, Franklin was limping up and down the court after taking some low blows from Irish defenders.

“We were doing screens and their little guard was kneeing my legs so I got a sore spot on my leg, but it wasn’t anything too serious,” Franklin said of his injury.

Sturdivant added 12 points and Deebo Coleman had 11 points and four rebounds.

Deivon Smith fell just short of a triple-double with eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists off the bench. He added two steals as well as he frustrated Nate Laszewski on the defensive end.

“He had seven assists and zero turnovers and he is one of the leading rebounders in the country for a guard. Player development is a big part of our program. Deivon’s energy is so impactful and even his energy when things are tough because his energy needs to be at a high level. He had excellent practices on Monday and Tuesday and then a great shootaround. He had a great floor game,” Pastner said.

The two teams combined for just 10 bench points, Smith had eight of those. Notre Dame’s bench hit just 1-8 and 0-3 from three in the game.

Laszewski led Notre Dame with 16 points while Dane Goodwin added 14 points. All five Notre Dame scorers were in double figures scoring.

Brey even started Ven-Allen Lubin who the Irish beat Tech out for on the recruiting trail last year. Lubin was a force inside, but got lured into foul trouble and sat most of the second half after scoring four of the first five baskets of the second half as the Irish started to take the lead in the game. After his fourth foul, he was a non-factor in the game. With Lubin sidelined the Jackets ended up plus-eight inside on the night.

“They started Ven-Allen Lubin today and we did a good job on him and Ja’von had a great game in there and we were plus-8 in the paint,” Pastner said.

Wertz who hit two clutch threes in the game in South Bend was 0-2 shooting with five rebounds and one assist.

Tech led almost the entire first half taking a 38-37 lead to the locker room behind strong first halves by Lance Terry (10 pts), Kyle Sturdivant (8 pts), and Deivon Smith (8 pts). Tech had nine assists and just four turnovers in the first half. The lead could’ve been bigger but the Jackets only hit two of six free throws in the first half and gave up 50% shooting from the floor.

The game was the final game at McCamish Pavilion for Mike Brey as Notre Dame’s coach. He is stepping down at the end of the season and Tech can only face the Irish in the ACC Tournament now if there is a third game between the teams.

“I’m not sure if we will play Notre Dame again unless it is in the conference tournament. It has been an honor and privilege to coach against him and most of our games have been barnburners and close games,” Pastner said. “That was a great win and we needed that. I’m very proud of our guys, we won the last two media timeouts 8-4, reverse from up at Notre Dame, we were up 7 there and they won and we were down six and won here. Deivon Smith with 9 rebounds and seven assists, I knew he was going to play well and his energy is great. Lance Terry made great plays and Ja’von Franklin was really good. Deebo hit three huge free throws and had a huge defensive rebound as well. They left it all on the floor and we’ve continued to fight and scrap and things haven’t gone our way, but we broke through the barrier and won.”

Despite the win, Pastner was still frustrated by some of the games that slipped away earlier this season due to offensive issues late in the game.

“We’ve still got to get better and we have to make sure we have shot selection and good opportunities in transition and we still missed some of those today. We are close and we’ve lost a lot of games, NC State, the first game at Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse was a possession game with 3:30 to go, we have to eliminate those long runs, eliminate the scoring droughts and those long runs, those are the two biggest things. With NC State we got 64, we are getting closer to 70,” Pastner said.

Tech returns to action at 7th placed Wake Forest on Saturday at 5 pm in Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

Tech took an early 7-6 lead at the first media timeout. Tech hit four-straight baskets to take a 16-13 lead into the second media timeout with 11:19 left in the half. Deivon Smith and Lance Terry carried the load early leading to a media timeout with seven minutes left in the half and the Jackets up four. Vel-Allen Lubin picked up his third foul After a three-minute scoring drought back-to-back threes by Sturdivant and Terry erased an Irish three-point lead and gave Tech a 30-27 advantage at the final media timeout with 3:27 left in the half. Tech pulled ahead 36-29, but ND hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 36-35 with 49.9 left in the half leading to Pastner's timeout. Franklin hit a layup with 12 seconds left and Laszewski put back a missed three to make it 38-37 Georgia Tech at the break.

It took 2:30 for either team to hit a field goal in the second half as Sturdivant hit a short jumper to break a 38-38 tie after a free throw by Lubin. The Irish hit three straight buckets to take a 45-43 lead at the first media timeout with 15:27 left. Terry picked up a technical foul, his fourth and Goodwin hit a free throw, but Terry responded with his own three to tie the game at 46. Lubin who was killing Tech inside with four of their five field goals in the half picked up his fourth foul with 11:39 left and the Jackets up 50-48. The Irish went on a 10-0 run to retake the lead 60-54 leading to a Pastner timeout with 7:57 left in the game. Tech fought back making it a two-point game with under four minutes to play and Pastner called a timeout with 3:48 left down 64-62. Out of the timeout, Coleman was fouled shooting three and he hit all three to retake the lead 65-64. Franklin extended it to 68-64 with an old-fashioned three-point play with just three minutes to go. The Irish tied it up with a pair of free throws from Ryan with under two minutes to go at 68. Lance Terry missed a go-ahead dunk and Smith missed a layup both with a chance to give Tech the lead. Brey called a timeout with 41.8 left still tied at 68. Laszewski missed his jumper with 26 seconds left giving Tech the ball back.