Victory Slips Away From Georgia Tech At Syracuse

A double digit halftime lead and career night from Moses Wright was not enough to overcome a lackluster second half performance against Syracuse.

Despite a double digit halftime lead and a career night from Moses Wright, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had no answer in the second half for the Syracuse Orange, falling 79-72 on the road at the Carrier Dome. The loss drops them back under .500 with a record 13-14 and 7-9 in ACC play.

Instead of a two-pronged Orange attack from forward Elijah Hughes and guard Buddy Boeheim like in the 97-63 loss at McCamish earlier this season, the Syracuse offense was a lot more balanced. Four of the five starters for Jim Boeheim and Co. finished in double figures, with Hughes & forward Marek Dolezaj both leading the way with 20.

Attempting to avenge their worst home loss in nearly 39 years, Tech established themselves as the more dominant team early in the game. They kicked off the game on a 20-9 run, lead by as much as 12, and eventually took a 38-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.

A large part of this early game success was due to the play of Moses Wright. Earlier this week, Wright mentioned that head coach Josh Pastner referred to him as the "zone-buster", and he certainly play like it. The junior forward hit 14 of his 17 shots, and scored a career high 33 points. It was the most scored by a Tech player in a true road game since Tony Akins had the same amount on Feb. 21st, 2000 vs. Florida State.

However, the rest of the Jackets could not catch up once the teams reconvened for the second half. The Orange scored 52 second half points, nearly double what they scored in the first 20 minutes of play. They shot 64.0% from the field and out-rebounded Tech 17-12 in the latter half of play, and forced 17 Yellow Jacket turnovers for the game. 

Junior point guard Jose Alvarado & senior center James Banks III also got into early foul trouble (both fouled out), partially contributing to Syracuse attempting 36 free throws and sinking 28 of them.

Next up for the Jackets, they'll have a quick turnaround and face the Clemson Tigers on Tuesday, February 25th at McCamish Pavilion. Tipoff is set for 9:00pm EST, and can be viewed on the ACC Network.

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