Tech Tops Notre Dame
Yellow Jackets Prevail At Home 63-61, Gain 3rd ACC Win
Georgia Tech welcomed back Jose Alvarado and AD Gueye in a big way Tuesday night. Tech hung in against a resourceful Irish squad, overcoming a narrow halftime deficit and pulling out a close win with solid play down the stretch.
The Jackets jumped out to an early lead at 11-4. The Irish quickly closed that margin as Tech offered up 10 turnovers and allowed the Irish to snag 11 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. Notre Dame’s John Mooney led the scoring with 14 first-half points to help the visitors forge a 30-28 lead.
James Banks and Micheal Devoe each had 8 points for Tech, but the bigger news was the effective play of returnees Gueye and Alvarado who added 5 and 7 respectively on their first game action in a week. Their offensive production brought obvious tangible value, but their mere presence in the lineup was inspiring to their teammates as well. James Banks noted that their contributions don’t always show on the stat sheet. “They bring toughness and will”, he said of Alvarado and Gueye. Tech coach Josh Pastner agreed, and noted again that he feels that Gueye’s presence on the floor benefits Banks and that Alvarado has a similar effect on freshman guard Michael Devoe. One Tech player who had a surprisingly tough night was Curtis Haywood who missed all 5 of his shots in 24-plus minutes of play.
What was not a surprise was Tech’s tenacious defense. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey saluted the Yellow Jackets’ defensive work, saying ” They’re long and athletic. They’re really hard to score on.” Tech proved him right in holding the Irish to 31% shooting in first half, including a remarkable 21% from distance. Those low numbers explained how Tech was down only 2 at the half despite the turnovers.
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey praised Tech’s defense, saying ” They’re really hard to score on”.
The second half was notable for better ball-handling by Georgia Tech, resulting in a big drop in the turnovers . Too, Tech’s bench came alive in the person of Khalid Moore who contributed 7 points on 3 of 3 shooting, including a trey. Tech built an 11-point lead late, helped along by a technical called on Brey when his critical commentary was made a little too close to the referee whose work was in question. Brey later explained ” I thought I turned around to voice my frustrations… I’ve got to be better there…Decorum is decorum. It’s on me.” Alvarado hit the free throws before 2 buckets by Moore helped hike Tech’s lead to 11 at the 6:06 mark.
Notre Dame answered with an 8-point run, including 3 free throws by Nate Laszewski after Gueye awkwardly fouled him on a 3 point attempt.
Tech’s AD Gueye fouled Nate Laszewski outside the arc with 2:47 to go
Gueye atoned only moments later when he dunked home a rebound of a miss by James Banks, taking Tech’s lead back to 4 with 52 seconds left.
Notre Dame guard TJ Gibbs brought his team back to within 2 by making 2 free throws with 10 seconds left, this after a foul by Jose Alvarado.
Tech then inbounded to Alvarado who was immediately fouled. The sophomore guard calmly sank both free throws to take the lead back to 4 with only 8 seconds, effectively icing the game for Georgia Tech. Mooney made a bucket at the buzzer for the Irish, thus accounting for the final score.
Afterwards Alvarado was matter-of-fact about his return to the line-up. He said he felt one day earlier that he’d be able to play and his goal was “…to not let Louisville lose us 2 games.” His referencecwas to Tech’s blowout loss to Louisville 3 days earlier, a game that Alvarado watched. He went on to say “We believed in the big guys.”
Tech’s Jose Alvarado said he was 100% confident at the free throw line with the game on the line.
For the game Tech shot 46%, including 26% from behind the arc. They held Notre Dame to 32% from the field, even with leading scorer Mooney hitting 10 of 20. Notre Dame had 20 offensive rebounds, thus accounting for the fact that they took a whopping 13 more shots than did Georgia Tech for the game.
Banks and Alvarado led Tech with 16 apiece. Gueye added 13 and Michael Devoe chipped in 11, with 5 assists.
Josh Pastner praised Devoe, saying he had “…played at a high level.” Tech’s coach pointed out that Devoe is still a freshman and is making strides in his overall play–especially defensively.
Next up for Tech is a road game at Duke on Saturday. Pastner said..” we will have to be nearly perfect at Duke”. No one disagrees but Pastner’s point guard Alvarado-you know, the guy with toughness and strong will–said “We will not back down at Cameron”.
Tech coach Josh Pastner called the game “..a great win–We defended at a high level.” Pastner’s team is now 3-3 in the Conference for the season–and he quickly noted it could easily be 4-2.
Duke is 15-2 on the year and 9-1 at home. Tipoff is 12 noon on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Arena.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com