Georiga Tech Uses Second-Half Effort To Surge Past Clayton State

Georgia Tech had a dominant second half to route the visiting Clayton State Lakers

Jackson Caudell | Nov 7, 2022

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech opened up its 2022-2023 season tonight against a Division II opponent, Clayton State. The Yellow Jackets were hoping to replicate last year's result when they played the Lakers, as Georgia Tech won by 50 points. While it was only an exhibition for the Lakers, this game counted for Georgia Tech.

The starters for Georgia Tech were Kyle Sturdivant, Lance Terry, Deivon Smith, Deebo Coleman, and Rodney Howard. I thought there was a chance that Terry could come off of the bench, but he was in the starting lineup.

It was clear from the opening tip that the Yellow Jackets would hold a massive size advantage over Clayton State and it showed. The Yellow Jackets would finish with a +20 advantage in rebounding.

It was not a great start to the game for either team, as there was not a bucket scored for the first couple of minutes. Howard got the first points of the season for Georgia Tech and that started an 8-0 run at the beginning of the game for the Yellow Jackets.

Clayton State made back-to-back three-pointers to get the score to 8-6, but Miles Kelly would enter the game and got the lead to 15-6. A quick 6-0 run by Clayton State got the lead cut to three.

It would be back and forth for the rest of the first half and Clayton State would hang around with Georgia Tech. To close out the half, the Lakers went on a 14-7 run, and the game was tied at 34-34.

Some first-half stats: Georgia Tech has shot 29% from three-point range and Clayton State has shot 33.3%. Rodney Howard is leading the way with six points and seven rebounds, shooting 3-8 from the floor. Tech outrebounded Clayton State 29-18.

As far as the bench went, Pastner chose to go with Kelly, Ja'von Franklin, and Jalon Moore as the primary guys off of the bench.

Georgia Tech forward Rodney Howard — Rodney Howard had a strong game in the season opener for Georgia Tech / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Tech was going to need a strong second half to get past the Lakers and that is exactly what they got.

The same starters would come out to begin the second half and Clayton State would actually grab the lead with the first bucket of the second half. Georgia Tech would respond quickly though and early on in the second half, Terry took over on offense and got hot from the three-point line.

With Georgia Tech only winning by three points, 39-36, Terry hit his first three of the second half to put them ahead 42-36. After a bit of a back-and-forth between the two teams, Terry hit two three-pointers in a span of 25 seconds to give the Yellow Jackets a 56-46 lead and all of the momentum was on the side of Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech forward Dallan Coleman — Georgia Tech used a dominant second half to take down Clayton State / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The next six and a half minutes was when the game was finally decided with a big run from Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets used a 17-2 run to get the lead to 73-48. While the shooting might have been off in the first half, the second half was fantastic.

It was a dominant showing the rest of the way and Georgia Tech won the second half by a margin of 59-29 and the game's final score was 59-29.

Georgia Tech had six players in double figures.

The top scorer in the game was Terry, who finished the game with 16 points and shot 4-8 from three-point range.

Howard had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds on 7-13 shooting. Smith had 10 points and seven rebounds on 5-12 shooting, and Sturdivant finished with 10 points and five assists on 2-6 shooting. Moore led the bench with 11 points and Kelly had 10 points.

For the game, Georgia Tech shot 47.9% from the field and 35% from three-point range. They outrebounded Clayton State 52-32.

The defense held the Lakers to 37.1% shooting and 18.2% from three. Clayton State hit a few threes early in the game but went cold after that.

This was a good way to start the year, especially the second half. This is the first season-opening win since the 2019-2020 season when Georgia Tech beat NC State.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action this Saturday against Georgia State. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m.

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