Tech collapses late at Notre Dame falling 71-68

SOUTH BEND, Ind.— The Purcell Pavilion has been a house of horrors for Georgia Tech and Tuesday night was another excruciating loss for the Jackets 71-68 in a game the Jackets led for nearly 37 minutes until a 13-0 run in the final minutes of the game allowed Notre Dame to take their first lead late and win the game.

The Jackets did not score for almost five minutes to let it slip away. Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire was frustrated with how the game ended but proud of his team who continue to battle injuries with only eight scholarship players dressed due to injuries and just seven playing in the game at Notre Dame.

“I feel bad for the guys, I thought they played well enough to win, but this game just like the game in Atlanta, Notre Dame made plays down the stretch that we didn’t make. That was pretty much the game. I’m proud of our guys’ effort. I look at the stat sheet, everyone talks about the injuries, we aren’t no charity case. We’ve got enough in our locker room to win. We’ve got to finish and start winning,” Stoudamire said.

Tech split the season series with the Irish with the loss. The Jackets fell to 9-12 on the season and 3-7 in league play while Notre Dame pulled up to .500 at 10-10 and 4-5 in ACC play.

“We need some momentum, we need some things to start happening and I think we have 10 conference games to go, we need to figure some things out,” Stoudamire said. “The guys are competing and playing their butts off and that is the one I love and appreciate with these guys. Practice is a little funny because we have more GAs and managers than players, but we are figuring it out and we are going to keep grinding it out.”

Sophomore guard Naithan George was big for the Jackets with 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, zero turnovers, two blocks and three steals.

“I feel like a lot of attention was being paid to other guys and the pull-up was there tonight and I feel like that is what got me going,” George said.

Forward Duncan Powell scored 18 points off the bench doing most of his damage in the second half with 10 of his 18 coming in the second frame after a slow start.

Star forward Baye Ndongo struggled down the stretch fouling out late with 10 points, and seven rebounds, but he was 3-12 shooting.

Javian McCollum got in foul trouble midway through the second half and that is when the Jackets began to falter offensively as he picked up fouls number three and four in a two-minute span.

Tech used just six players in the main rotation with Ryan Mutombo added three minutes off the bench.

Notre Dame star guard Markus Burton missed the first game in Atlanta and was big for the Irish with 26 points and 18 of his points coming in the second half including two big threes to help that 13-0 run that put away the Jackets.

“There were times when we could’ve given up and let Georgia Tech beat us, but we kept fighting. I give a lot of credit to my teammates and this was a hard fought win,” Burton said.

Braeden Shrewsberry was the only other player in double figures for Notre Dame with 15 points, but he was 2-7 from three.

The Irish starting big men Tae Davis and Kebba Njie combined for just 10 points, but had 15 rebounds. Njie had a key hoop late to put the Irish up two scores late on an old-fashioned three-point play.

Tech returns home to face a surging Louisville squad at 3:45 pm.

Georgia Tech led for 19:47 of the first half before Matt Allocco hit a three at the buzzer to send the teams to the locker room tied at 37. The Irish were 7-14 in the first half from three while Tech was 7-7 at the free throw line to counter the threes. Notre Dame’s turnovers were the difference in the first half as they had six compared to only four for Tech.

Georgia Tech jumped out to a 7-1 lead and took a 7-4 lead into the first media timeout. However, fouls piled up early with Ibrahim Souare getting benched just a few minutes into the with two fouls. Tech took a seven-point lead into the third media timeout 32-25 with 3:44 left as both teams went back and forth. That lead shrunk to 32-28 with 2:28 left at the final media timeout and the Irish cut it to two out of the timeout, 32-30. Tech pulled ahead by five 37-32 on a Nait George three, but the Irish responded with a layup with 46 seconds left and a bad possession by Tech that ended with a Ndongo three from the corner that missed. Matt Allocco hit a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 37.

Tech opened the second half with a 6-0 run on easy buckets around the hoop leading to a Shrewsberry timeout with 17:33 left. Tech held the Irish scoreless into the first media timeout with 15:20 left in the game. The Irish finally scored with 14:52 left in the game. Notre Dame tied the game at 45 leading to a Stoudamire timeout and the Jackets responded with an and-one to go back up 48-45. Javian McCollum and Lance Terry were called for back-to-back fouls with ten minutes left in the game to give them both three fouls. After a Powell three, McCollum picked up his fourth foul with 8:46 left putting the Jackets in the bonus. Tech held a 59-55 advantage at the third media timeout with 6:52 remaining. At the final media timeout, Tech lead 62-58 with 4:00 remaining. Burton hit a three with 2:21 left in the game to pull the Irish within one. Burton hit another three to give the Irish their first lead, 64-62 as part of a 9-0 run with 1:49 left. Ndongo missed a free throw after hitting a layup that was waved off with 1:06 left on the front end of a one-and-one but the ball was out of bounds on the Irish. McCollum had a five second violation no the inbounds turning the ball over. Njie scored and Ndongo picked up his fourth foul with 37.8 left to put Notre Dame up 66-62 as part of an 11-0 run. George missed a three and Tae Davis hit a pair of free throws to put Notre Dame up 68-62 on a 13-0 run. Terry hit a layup with 13.8 left. Ndongo picked up his fifth foul with 11.7 left. Shrewsberry hit both free throws to go up 70-62. George added a layup with five seconds left and fouled with 4.5 left on the clock to make it 70-66.