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When Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia clash in any kind of competition, you can expect a heightened atmosphere. A motivated crowd filled in McCamish Pavilion yesterday, nearly split down the middle cheering for their Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets respectively. Of course the win/loss means everything in 99% of games but this had that extra little 1% in the form of bragging rights.
Both teams looked pretty tight early on: the game was mired in fouls and missed shots. Then the action started to pick up right around the 9:00 mark. UGA went on a 13-0 run that gave them a a 25-9 lead. Bulldogs Forward Rayshaun Hammonds scored five of his nine first half points during that stretch, helping leading his team to a 29-19 halftime lead.
The Yellow Jackets would start the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to three. A concentrated effort to attack the basket paid off some as they got to within two points of their cross-state rivals. The Bulldog defense was just too much to overcome. Forward Nicolas Claxton finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots. UGA finished the game with 10 blocked shots overall, giving the Yellow Jackets fits all afternoon.
The Bulldogs took the win 70-59, never trailing during the game.
Game Notes:
Michael Devoe finished the game with 14 points and five rebounds. After the game he said ” We definitely wanted to shoot the ball better and we wanted to get more stops. Coach (Josh Pastnar) emphasizes kills, so we wanna get three stops in a row and we only got three in this games we wanted to get at least get seven.”
The Yellow Jackets shot 18.8% from long distance only mustering up three made shots from that range.
The Bulldogs bench outscored the Yellow Jackets bench 26-14 with all of UGA’s players seeing some action. Head coach Josh Pastnar wouldn’t use fatigue as an excuse after the game stating that he had shortened his rotation on Wednesday.
Georgia Tech’s next game is Friday, December 28th versus another in state opponent: the Kennesaw State Owls.
