Jackets surge down the stretch to take down BC for ACC home win

In a game that featured some momentum swings both ways, it was Georgia Tech that had the final and decisive one, ending the game on a 22-7 run to turn a 46-42 deficit into a 65-53 ACC victory over Boston College on Saturday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.

Boston College (7-7, 0-1 ACC) surged ahead with a 10-2 run midway through the second half to take that 46-42 lead, but Georgia Tech (10-5, 1-1 ACC) got several big defensive stops, run-outs, an emphatic dunk from freshman Cole Kirouac and some clutch buckets from Lamar Washington down the stretch to turn the game in the Jackets’ favor and send the home crowd into a frenzy to secure the much-needed win after a close loss on Wednesday at Duke to open conference play.

“That was a really good win…proud of the fellas,” said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire. “You know they showed a lot of grit, especially coming down the stretch with about seven minutes to go I thing it was. We were down by four, we came in the huddle and we finally settled in offensively. We were able to make shots, but I was just really proud of…I’ve been saying I feel like I say something like this once I come up to this podium every game is we couldn’t have won games like this last year.

“We went to Duke, and we lost by six. We come back, and it was kind of like a grimy game, but we’ve been playing close games so we’re seasoned in these games. It doesn’t matter who you play, you’re seasoned in them, and I think that’s what you’ve seen. You didn’t see any panic in our guys coming down the stretch.”

Washington finished with a team-high 17 points for the Jackets to go with 12 rebounds for the double-double. He also had five assists.

Other Tech players in double figures were Kowacie Reeves Jr. with 16 points and Baye Ndongo with 10 points and eight rebounds. Jaeden Mustaf contributed nine points and five rebounds off the bench, and Akai Fleming added eight points and five rebounds.

Cole Kirouac played extended minutes off the bench in the front court as well with Tech down Mouhamed Sylla, who has a lower leg injury, and had two points and six rebounds with his bucket being an emphatic dunk with 7:02 remaining to energize the home crowd and his team.

“Kowacie made huge plays. I thought Lamar made huge plays,” said Stoudamire. “They did a really good job when we went back small, and I thought Jaeden and Akai defensively were really good down the stretch. And I can’t say enough about Cole. I’m happy for him because everybody got a chance to see him play extended minutes, and now you see what he does when nobody’s looking. He does a good job. He works, and he’s going to be a really good player. That was a heck of a dunk he had. It ignited us. It ignited the crowd. Proud of him and happy for him.”

“It was a good team effort this afternoon.”

Along with Sylla’s injury, Jackets’ big man Peyton Marshall also went down in the second half with an injury and didn’t return to the game. Stoudamire said after the game that Sylla’s injury is a “sprained ankle,” and they are targeting the game at Miami next Saturday as a possible return for him. He said they would know more about Marshall’s injury later, but Stoudamire said he appeared to hyper-extend his knee.

Georgia Tech’s defense held Boston College to just 27.3 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-29 on 3-point attempts.

“Sometimes you can’t tell sitting from the sidelines, but I knew we were playing great D,” said Stoudamire. “The game felt like a lot of games this year like ‘man, we’ve just got to get going offensively. If we get going offensively, we’ll be fine.’

“When I looked at the numbers, I was like…a team I’ve coached, I don’t think I’ve ever had a team hold an opponent to 27 (percent) from the field, 13 (percent) from the 3. That was just amazing defense. It was a collective effort. It was physical. We played small down the stretch of the game. It was a good team effort, but from a physicality standpoint, it was great to see.”

Boston College only had two players reach double figures in scoring with Donald Hand Jr. and Boden Kapke sharing the scoring lead with 13 points apiece. Kapke added 11 rebounds for the double-double but was the only Eagle with double-digit rebounds as Georgia Tech won the rebounding battle as a team 49-34.

Along with winning the rebounding battle, Georgia Tech outscored Boston College 34-24 in the paint and 23-0 on the fast break.

Jayden Hastings was the next highest scorer for Boston College with nine points.

After Georgia Tech went on a 12-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game to that point at 27-17 in the first half, Boston College fought right back over the final few minutes before the break with a 7-0 run of its own to cut the halftime deficit to 27-24.

It was a tough offensive first half for both teams with the Jackets narrowly holding the advantage in field goal percentage at 38.5 percent while Boston College shot just 26.5 percent. Neither team had a player score more than six points in the half.

Georgia Tech will be back at home on Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion to host Syracuse at 7 p.m. in another ACC matchup. Former Jackets Nait George and Ibrahim Souare will be part of the Orange’s roster after transferring this past spring.

Boston College will also play at home on Tuesday at 9 p.m. as the Eagles host NC State in an ACC tilt.