Jackets get off the mat, come through with much-needed, bounceback win at NC State

After a disappointing 23-point loss to Pitt on Wednesday at McCamish Pavilion after which head coach Damon Stoudamire questioned his team’s competitiveness and energy, apparently his Georgia Tech team got the message.

The Jackets battled from start to finish, getting contributions from several players up and down the lineup including a huge second half from Kowacie Reeves Jr. to earn a much-needed 78-74 road victory over ACC foe NC State on Saturday afternoon at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.

Georgia Tech (11-8, 2-4 ACC) trailed 55-47 with 12:15 left in the second half but found a way to turn the game around from there, including a 17-3 run to take its biggest lead of the final 20 minutes at 65-58 before using several clutch shots from Reeves, stingy defense and just enough makes at the free throw line to hold off the Wolfpack.

“Our guys competed. They played hard. They fought,” said Stoudamire after his team’s bounceback win. “We looked like Pitt when they came in there and beat us (on Wednesday). NC State is a really good team, and you’ve got to keep playing, you’ve got to keep playing, you’ve got to keep playing. But we took their best hits, and we were able to come out on top.”

Reeves finished with a game-high 21 points, 17 of those coming in the second half, to help lead the Jackets to the unlikely road win. He knocked down four 3s, all in the second half as well.

“‘Wacie,’ he’s become ‘Wacie’ now in terms of you look for him for stability. You look to him for leadership, talking to the other guys,” said Stoudamire. “He’s been here as long as I’ve been here. And he stepped in and made some big shots to keep us in the game. And then he made some big shots where I won’t say we got over the hump, but one time he made a 3 to take (the lead) to eight. I was happy for him. He’s bought into everything that I’ve said to him from Day 1, and it was really good to see him get payback for (everything) because he’s been here through the ups and downs. But this is a really good road win, and with guys like Wacie, hopefully we can trend in the right direction.”

Three other Jackets scored in double figures with Lamar Washington adding 18 points, Akai Fleming scoring 16 to go with seven rebounds and Jaeden Mustaf contributing 11 points along with 10 rebounds for the double-double. Baye Ndongo chipped in with six points and nine rebounds.

After starting the game with four turnovers in the first four possessions and falling behind 6-0, Tech immediately ripped off a 12-0 run to take a 12-6 lead and further pushed the run to 15-2 to go up 15-8 at the 12:15 mark of the first half.

Both teams seemed to settle in a little bit after that and play back and forth as NC State battled back to a 22-21 lead at the under 8 media timeout, but Washington hit a 3 to put the Jackets back ahead 24-21 with just under six minutes remaining in the half.

After NC State hit a shot to tie the game at 24-24, the Jackets went on to reel off eight straight points to go up 32-24. But the Wolfpack ended the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 35-34 advantage to the locker room at the break.

Fleming was the only player in the game to reach double figures in scoring in the first half with 11 points while teammates Washington and Mustaf each scored seven.

The second half started with NC State pushing the lead to 40-34 with five straight points, but once again the Jackets battled back within one possession quickly on buckets by Washington and Mustaf.

The game of runs continued the same theme from there as NC State built a 55-47 lead around the 12-minute mark, but Georgia Tech ripped off a 18-3 run to take the momentum right back and a 65-58 lead with just under seven minutes remaining.

NC State cut Tech’s lead to three at 69-66 at one point, but a couple clutch free throws by Baye Ndongo and a huge 3 by Reeves pushed the advantage back out to 74-66. The Wolfpack fought until the end but never got the deficit under three points from that point on as the Jackets closed out the much-needed road victory in the ACC by making some big free throws down the stretch.

NC State’s top scorer in the game was Quadir Copeland with 16 points as he also had six rebounds and six assists. Paul McNeil Jr. and Ven-Allen Lubin rounded out the Wolfpack’s double-digit scorers with 12 apiece with Lubin as the top rebounder for his team with seven. (Georgia Tech out-rebounded NC State 43-34 for the game.)

Tech held NC State’s Darrion Williams to just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting as Stoudamire said Mustaf’s defensive effort had a lot to do with that which was a big part of the game.

“The biggest thing for me…I can talk about a lot of stuff, but for me the game came down to I thought Jaeden Mustaf did about as good a job as I’ve seen on Darrion Williams not only this year but when I watched him before,” said Stoudamire. “He was physical. He was tough. He didn’t back down. He didn’t go for pump fakes, and the biggest thing, he didn’t put him at the line. So that to me was big for us.”

Georgia Tech will have a few days to rest and recover with a full week off before taking the court again next Saturday, hosting Clemson for a noon tip at McCamish Pavilion.

“Honestly, just really happy that the guys responded. Proud of my team, and like we talked about, we just can’t go backwards,” said Stoudamire. “We’ll see…I tell you, one win can change a season. I do know that. So we can go, and we can build on this. It was good to see.”

“Tonight we had a collective effort,” added Stoudamire. “It was five guys connected and playing as one on both ends of the floor. I think that’s what I take away from this win because it’s been a tough 48, 72 hours for everybody so we did a lot…I won’t call it soul-searching because it gets cliche-ish and all that, but we just weren’t happy with what happened (on Wednesday vs. Pitt.). So to come back today and beat a really good NC State team at their place, I think it shows a lot of character for those guys down there in that room.”

NC State is back at it on Tuesday when the Wolfpack looks to bounce back as they visit Clemson for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

-JOL’s Kelly Quinlan contributed to this report.