Jackets fall as Georgia overcomes deficit, pulls away in 2nd half

ATHENS — Georgia Tech went on a 14-2 run early in the second half to build an eight-point lead at 60-52, but Georgia answered with a huge run of its own, immediately jumping back ahead 62-60 and eventually going up by as many as 12 before holding on for a 92-87 victory in Friday night’s hardwood version of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate in Athens on Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia Tech (3-1) trailed 46-45 at the half and fell behind 50-45 early in the second half before grabbing the momentum with several big buckets, including three straight by Jaeden Mustaf to cap a 10-0 run as the Jackets took a 55-50 advantage.

After the Jackets eventually went up by eight, Georgia (4-0) immediately responded with a 10-0 spurt to take the lead at 62-60. After some back and forth, the Bulldogs went on another extended run, this time a 9-0 stretch to take a 75-66 lead with 6:27 remaining.

Georgia Tech continued to battle to the end, hitting several shots with less than a minute left to get within five but a couple heaves in the final seconds were no good as Georgia grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock for their 92-87 victory.

“It was a game of runs and when we went up (early in the second half), they called a timeout, and we took a couple bad shots, had some turnovers in that time…and we weren’t able to get over that hump,” said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire after the loss. “But we played hard and we kept fighting and we gave ourselves a chance. But we needed to put a little more pressure on them, we just couldn’t make that last shot to put a little more pressure on them.”

Georgia was led by a pair of 18-point scorers as Blue Cain and Jeremiah Wilkinson each reached that total. Jordan Ross added 14 points, and Bulldogs’ big man Somto Cyril scored eight points, including a few emphatic dunks, to go with a team-leading six rebounds. Marcus Millender and Justin Abson each scored seven.

Georgia Tech had a balanced night with five guys reaching double figures, including Kam Craft who led the way with 17 points, including making 5-of-7 shots from 3-point range. Lamar Washington scored 16 points, Jaeden Mustaf had 15, Kowacie Reeves Jr. contributed 12 and Baye Ndongo scored 10. Mo Sylla had the top rebounding total with eight.

“Kam shot it well. I thought Jaeden made some great drives, did a lot of great things,” said Stoudamire. “The biggest thing now is just the consistency of it. I think that’s what I want to see from the individuals and what I want to see from the team is we’ve got to have a little more consistency.”

The Jackets struggled with turnovers at crucial times on Friday with 15 in the game which Georgia turned into 21 points. The Bulldogs also had a big edge in fast-break points, outscoring the Jackets 30-6 in that category.

“I liken turnovers that we have and bad shots to pick-sixes,” said Stoudamire. “That changes the complexion of the game. We’ve got to do a better job with our shot selection. We just can’t have those live-ball turnovers. They kill you.”

The first half included multiple extended runs back and forth, including the Bulldogs having separate 10-0 and 8-0 runs while Georgia Tech had an 8-0 run of its own. Georgia led by as many as 10 at one point while Tech’s largest lead was four.

After Georgia went up 26-16 at the 9:30 mark of the first half, Tech battled all the way back to take a 43-40 lead at one point. The Bulldogs then had a 6-2 run to end the first half and take the 46-45 lead to the break that included two fast-break dunks by Wilkinson.

The first half also included a lot of whistles with the teams combining for 27 total fouls, including key players on both sides, Ndongo and Cain each having three apiece.

Georgia Tech will be back on the court on Tuesday when the Jackets return home to host Georgia Southern at 7:30 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion.

After the game, Stoudamire said he still feels encouraged about where this team can go as the season progresses.

“The big thing for me honestly is I know we’re going to get better,” said Stoudamire. “That’s the biggest thing for me is I know we’re not a finished product. This team is going to get better. We’ve got a lot of areas of improvement, and on the offensive end I feel like we can really get better. I thought we did a lot of good things offensively, but we’ve got to keep getting better on that end of the floor.”

“We’re able to get back home and we’ll play on Tuesday and we’ve got to just keep building,” added Stoudamire. “We’ve got a big couple weeks coming up. This was a great environment for us to play in, and I think we learned a lot from it.”

Georgia will be back at Stegeman Coliseum on Monday to host Florida A&M at 6:30 p.m.