Jackets finish first half strong, control second half in win vs. Marist

After the teams battled back and forth for much of the first half, Georgia Tech closed out the opening 20 minutes on a 12-1 run and carried that momentum over in the second half to pull away for a 87-76 win over Marist on Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion.

“I thought this was our most complete game of the season for me,” said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire after the victory. “I thought we did a good job on both ends of the floor. Defensively, in the first half I thought we didn’t do as well of a job as we would’ve liked in our man, and so we went to zone and I thought that broke their (Marist’s) rhythm a lot. That last four minutes of the first half the zone was big for us, broke their rhythm. We were able to get out and get some buckets, and I thought that gave us momentum going into halftime. And even the start of the second half, it might not have felt like it watching it, but it felt like it from where I stood. When we started double-teaming the ball, that helped us and ignited us and caught them a little off guard.”

The Jackets (7-4) were led by Kowacie Reeves Jr. who had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. It was one of two double-doubles on the evening as his teammate Lamar Washington finished with 11 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

Three others were in double figures in scoring for Georgia Tech with Mouhamed Sylla scoring 14 (to go with eight rebounds), Akai Fleming scoring 13 and Kam Craft scoring 10. Chas Kelley III narrowly missed joining the group as he scored eight.

“Offensively, the reality of it is is that we made shots,” said Stoudamire. “I’ve been saying for a long time, it’s a make or miss game, and when you make shots, it takes pressure off you. We did that this evening. We were 8-of-11 from the 3, we made our free throws, we shot 57 (percent) for the game. I thought we did a good job inside. I thought our bigs were really good especially Mo and Cole (Kirouac), the lob threats that they were. We just collectively did a good job, and I thought our bench was really good. Last thing too, the point guard position…16 assists, that’s really good. Just happy. Again, really a team effort. If we can play like this after 10 days off, I’ll take it. If we can just keep our trajectory going in the right direction.”

The first half was tight throughout with Marist (7-3) leading 35-32 with 3:50 remaining, but Georgia Tech closed it out strong on a 12-1 run to take a 44-36 lead to the break.

The Jackets kept up the momentum early in the second half, pushing the lead to 11 on a Reeves 3-pointer to make it 54-43 and force Marist to use a timeout with 16:51 remaining in the contest. Tech went up by as many as 23 in the second half as the home team was able to put the game away.

“We talked about trying to put two halves together. We’ve played in spurts, and most of the people in this room have been to enough games to know that we’ve been up 8 to 10, but we’ve given it right back just like that,” said Stoudamire. “I thought that we did a really good job of coming out of the locker room and sustaining the momentum we had. We didn’t go backwards. We got stops and we got scores, we got stops and we got scores. That’s really big especially on a night when you’re making shots so it made it that much more effective. But the energy was there, the effort was there, the connectivity was there, and that was big for us.”

Marist cut the deficit to 11 late in the game after Tech took the foot off the gas, but they were unable to get any closer. The Red Foxes had a quartet of scorers in double figures with Elijah Lewis leading the way with 19 points. Justin Menard added 13 points, and Jaden Daughtry and Ricky McKenzie each had 11.

Georgia Tech shot 72.7 percent from 3-point range on 8-of-11 shooting, narrowly missing the single-game school record in 3-point percentage. The Jackets shot 57.9 percent overall in the win.

Next up for Georgia Tech is another home matchup on Saturday as they host Lafayette at McCamish Pavilion for a 2 p.m. tip.

Georgia Tech played without previous starters this season Baye Ndongo and Jaeden Mustaf, who each missed the game due to injury. Stoudamire said after the game he had no specific timeline for their return but would try to start ramping them up to be ready to play because they “need” them on the floor.

Marist will be back home on Sunday to host Stony Brook at 1 p.m.

NOTES: It was Haynes King night at the game as the Jackets’ quarterback signed autographs for fans before the game with the line stretching halfway around the entire concourse at one point. King was honored at halftime of the game in recognition of his ACC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year Awards he won following his impressive redshirt-senior season on The Flats. …Georgia Tech offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge was also honored during the a timeout in the first half after he was named the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award winner recently given to the conference’s “most courageous” player. Rutledge overcame injuries in a car accident prior to his junior season to become one of the best offensive lineman in the country at Georgia Tech over the last two years.