The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jackets roar back after half
Jackson comes off bench to ignite Tech to a key victory.
After a disastrous first half in which forward Quinton Stephens went down with an apparent ankle injury, Georgia Tech rallied behind guard Tadric Jackson to defeat Boston College 65-54 on Saturday night at McCamish Pavilion.
Jackson came off the bench and caught fire after halftime, scoring 20 of his career-high 29 points to help deliver a result critical for the Yellow Jackets’ postseason hopes. Tech was down by as many as 15 points in the first half and needed a late flurry just to shoot 16.7 percent (5-for30) for the half.
Jackson led a second-half resurgence in which the Jackets seemed a completely different team, scoring 50 points, the most for a half this season against a Division I opponent. It enabled Tech to overcome a 22-15 halftime deficit.
Tech (15-10, 6-6 ACC) held the Eagles to 32.8 percent shooting from the field, 13 percentage points below its ACC average. Boston College (9-17, 2-11) was led by guard Jerome Robinson’s 17 points.
Here are five things to know about the game:
When the game was won: Guard Justin Moore made perhaps the biggest shot of the game, tossing in a 3-pointer from the top of the key off an assist from guard Josh Heath to give the Jackets a 34-32 lead with 12:28 remaining in the game. It was Moore’s second 3-pointer of his freshman season and his first in ACC play. A reluctant shooter, Moore hadn’t even attempted a 3-pointer in the past eight games.
The basket gave the Jackets their first lead since going up 2-0 in the second minute of the game. Tech never trailed from that point. Moore had missed the past two games with an abdominal injury.
Further, Moore came down with eight rebounds, a career high, and recorded six assists against one turnover. Tech coach Josh Pastner said it probably was Moore’s best game of the season.
“He’s been out a couple of games, and I think if anybody was ready to play (Saturday), it was him,” guard Josh Okogie said. “He just had tremendous energy at practice.”
Lammers does the job again: Center Ben Lammers finished with three blocks, but that doesn’t speak to the influence he had in altering shots. Boston College forward Mo Jeffers was 3-for9, mostly playing in the post against Lammers. Boston College was 16 for 39 on shots taken at the rim and in the lane, which can’t be attributed entirely to Lammers’ challenging of shots, but he clearly made his influence felt.
“In my opinion, I don’t know if there’s another player in this league that can dictate the terms of the game on both sides of the floor because he takes away everything at the front of the rim,” Boston College coach Jim Christian said.
Lammers finished with 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. His rebounding total was two shy of the Tech record for most rebounds in an ACC game, set last season by Charles Mitchell. It was his 12th double-double of the season.
Jackson pours it in: Jackson did most of his scoring at the rim, on drives and post-ups. He also dropped two 3-pointers and was 3 for 3 from the free-throw line.
“Towards the end of the first half, he really started driving the ball,” Christian said. “That’s what we talked about at halftime. He’s going to drive the ball. He’s going to get the ball on the wing and power drive it to the middle of the floor.”
Strange first half: Pastner had no explanation for what happened in the first half, when the Jackets didn’t make a basket until the 11:44 mark and missed a number of seemingly easy shots. In the half, Tech was 3 for 13 on layups, according to the shot chart, including twin 0-for-3 showings by Lammers and guard Josh Okogie.
Said Pastner, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
On top of that, Tech turned the ball over 10 times in 41 possessions, many of them careless turnovers.
Jackson said that the team lacked focus because it was taking the game for granted. Pastner said that assistant coaches told him they thought that the team was tight and needed to loosen up.
At halftime, Pastner said, he refrained from blowing up and told the Jackets they were due to start making layups.
It was a stunning turnaround. Tech was 2 for 24 from the field late in the first half, but 22 for 35 the rest of the way.
Stephens injured: Tech pulled out the win despite not having Stephens for the final 34:52. He has started all 25 games for the Jackets and entered the game averaging 33 minutes per game, second most on the team. He is Tech’s second-leading rebounder (8.2 per game before Saturday) and a stabilizing force on a young team.
Pastner did not have a gauge on the severity of the injury after the game. Stephens injured the ankle against Notre Dame on Jan. 28 and had been limited in practice since that point while still playing.