FSU Basketball: Yellow Jackets Swarm Noles To Win 86-80
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU Basketball needed a win against Georgia Tech to keep their NCAA Tournament hope alive, and fell flat on their face.
1st Half
The first half saw both teams shooting the ball relatively well through the first 12 minutes of the first half. The Yellow Jackets led 25-20 at the eight minute mark and was shooting over 50 percent from the floor. The Noles were right there with them at 47 percent.
The difference in the game at that point was the free throw line and three point shooting. The turnovers were relatively the same and surprisingly the rebounds were relatively equal with Georgia Tech being +1 on the offensive boards.
The Noles cut the lead down to two with just over three minutes left in the half, but Georgia Tech quickly pushed the lead back to nine on a couple of layups and a three pointer from Tech’s Adam Smith at the 2:06 mark.
The Yellow Jackets led the Noles 43-34 at the half. The Jackets shot 54.8 percent for the half and 40 percent from beyond the arc (4-10). The Noles shot 45.2 percent for the half and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (2-7).
The Jackets finished the half with eight turnovers and (5-7) from the charity stripe. The Noles finished the half with seven turnovers and (4-7) from the charity stripe.
Georgia Tech was led in scoring by Adam Smith with 14 points, he was (2-5) from long-range. The Noles were led in scoring by Devon Bookert with 10 points. Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley again were silent in the first half with one and three points respectively.
2nd Half
The second half saw Georgia Tech come out and score almost immediately to push the lead to double digits. The Noles turned the ball over and fouled a couple of times in which Georgia Tech converted to push the lead to 54-41 with 15:28 left in the game.
Both teams traded baskets before Georgia Tech made back-to-back three pointers to push the lead to 63-47 at the 10:50 mark.
At this point Georgia Tech was shooting 55.8 percent from the floor. FSU Basketball just can’t expect to win games allowing teams to shoot that well. The Noles had chances to close the gap over the next three minutes, but couldn’t buy a basket after getting some defensive stops.
Georgia Tech led Florida State 66-49 at the 7:37 mark, however, the Noles rattled off six straight points with help from Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Malik Beasley to cut the lead to 66-55 with 6:26 left.
Devon Bookert hit a three to cut the lead to 78-72 with 1:08 left in the game. It became a game of free throw shooting at that point and the Noles could never get the lead below two even though Georgia Tech missed plenty of free throws down the stretch.
Georgia Tech held on to win 86-80.
Georgia Tech was led in scoring by Marcus Georges-Hunt’s 27 points and Adam Smith finished with 25. The Noles were led by Terance Mann’s 18 points. Georgia Tech shot 53.8 percent for the game.
FSU Basketball will be back in action Saturday, February 20, at Virginia Tech. The game will begin at 3 p.m. and will air on ESPN3.