Georgia Tech works hard for win over Wofford

Nothing is going to come easy for Georgia Tech this season.

The Yellow Jackets were pushed to the limit Thursday by Wofford before escaping with a 74-70 win at McCamish Pavilion.

Every time Georgia Tech appeared ready to shake of Wofford, the Terriers came up with a big basket. But every time Georgia Tech teed it up for Wofford to tie the game or take the lead, the Terriers would whiff.

Georgia Tech (7-4) appeared to have the game in hand with 1:29 remaining when Quinton Stephens bounced a pass to Ben Lammers, who slammed it home for his 19th points to give the Yellow Jackets a 68-64 lead.

But the lead wasn’t finally secured until Josh Heath banged in a pair of free throws with 22.7 seconds left, 21 seconds after missing a pair that would have done the same thing.

Lammers scored in double figures for the 11th time and added seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Tadric Jackson scored 14 —all in the first half — and Justin Moore and Josh Heath each had 12.

Wofford (5-8) got 23 points from Eric Garcia, who drained six 3-pointers, and 17 from Nathan Hoover, who had three 3-pointers.

Four who mattered

Lammers: Lammers scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half to lead the Yellow Jackets. Lammers shot 9-for-12 from the field.

Jackson: The junior got his first start of the season and came out hot. But Jackson got a little winded and his hamstring tightened up in the second half, so he played only six more minutes and failed to score.

Georgia Tech guard Justin Moore: He opened the game as the aggressor on offense and scored eight of his 12 points in the first half. Moore was told by the coaching staff to be more aggressive, and it showed.

Garcia: He kept the Terriers close with a barrage of 3-pointers. He was 6-for-9 on 3-pointers and matched his season scoring high he set in the previous game against Coastal Carolina.

Observations

Defense is the difference: Wofford entered the game as the No. 3 3-point shooting team in the country. But Georgia Tech held the Terriers to 35.5 percent — far below their season average of 43.2 percent. Wofford made just 4-of-15 in the first half and was 11-for-31 for the game.

Heath steps forward: Heath had his first double-figure effort of the season. Heath made some nice moves attacking the basket but was not effective on outside shots, going 0-for-3 on 3-pointers. Heath also had three assists and four rebounds.

Worth mentioning

Q breaks the 3-point drought: Stephens finally got a 3-pointer to fall. The senior had failed to hit a 3-pointer in the three previous games. He connected at the 17:20 mark of the first half and missed his only other try.

No rest for the weary: Lammers admitted he was a bit weary after the third game in five days. That’s not surprising: He played 73 of the 80 minutes in the past two games. Pastner gave most of the minutes against Wofford to six players, with five others playing nine minutes or less.

They said it

Pastner on the team’s effort: “Through the first part here, our guys have fought for Georgia Tech, they’ve fought for me, they’ve given me every ounce of energy. They’re playing as hard as they can. We have limitations, especially offensively. We haven’t had a game, other than the Alcorn State game, that we’ve had a chance to breath. Every possession we play is precious.”

Moore on his aggressive offense: “Coached told me to be aggressive. From (Wednesday’s) practice to shootaround, they said, ‘When you’re open, take the open shot, and if you find a lane, go with that.’ ”

Lammers on the inability shake Wofford: “With a team that can shoot 3s like that, it’s always hard to put them away. You take away the 3s, but sometimes they make the shots. There are some things defensively to give us more of the lead, but they’re a great shooting team and they’re going to make plays.”

Wofford head coach Mike Young on the inability to get over the hump: “We couldn’t make (the big shot), and we do that pretty well. Georgia Tech had something to do with that. Josh went zone at the under-four media timeout, and that was a good move. That bothered us, and we had a bad possession.”

What’s next?

Georgia Tech plays Wednesday against North Carolina A&T.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Georgia Tech works hard for win over Wofford."