Jackets survive Penn State 77-73

The No. 21 Jackets faced Penn State Tuesday night at home in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and came away with a 77-73 victory over the Nittany Lions.

Freshman forward Thaddeus Young sat out the game with tendonitis in his left knee. Fortunately for the Jackets, they were able to overcome his absence. Lewis Clinch played a big part in covering for Young, scoring 20 points.

"Defensively, we have to find ourselves again...[we] didn't play well defensively against UCLA, and tonight again, especially off the dribble. Our defense was non-existent," said Head Coach Paul Hewitt after the game. "We have seven guys that can go get 20 on a given night. But that's not going to do it if you're trying to be a consistent basketball team. If you're going to be a consistent basketball team, the scoring is really irrelevant."

Clinch started the offense early, hitting a three right off the bat for a lead. Penn State rallied back with five points to take a lead and then hit a three after a Zach Peacock free throw to make it 8-4. After trading baskets, Tech evened the score at 12-12.

Freshman forward Mohammed Faye hit a three before going down hard on a foul. He came off the court holding the hand he injured before the season started. He came back later after Tech had taken a seven point lead.

The second half started off at a much slower tempo than the first half, with Tech holding the ball for longer before their shots. It helped as they were able to convert at a higher percentage.

Tech and Penn State traded baskets until Peacock and Clinch hit back-to-back three-pointers in a span of 30 seconds. Clinch's basket put Tech up by seven five minutes into the second half. The Lions pulled within one point after three straight baskets in the paint five minutes later.

Penn State was never able to clear the hurdle, as Tech kept a fluctuating lead over the rest of the game. Tech's largest lead was eight points, but Penn State never let the Jackets get comfortable. Anthony Morrow made two free throws to keep the Lions down by four with eight seconds left to seal the victory.

"I feel like we can have more of a presence on defense," said Clinch. "I felt like we could have had a better defensive performance than we did tonight. Offense is not going to be a problem throughout the year; it's just going to be defense."

Last week, the team took part in the Maui invitational and traveled to Hawaii to face Purdue, Memphis and UCLA.

Against the Boilermakers, the Jackets struggled to find their presence on the court and Purdue put a lot of defensive pressure on them. The Jackets shot poorly in the first half, hitting 11 of 32 shots at 34 percent. Tech came out in the second half and made 68 percent of their shots, which included a 12-2 run that put the Jackets up by 18 points down the stretch.

The Jackets did not start out well in their next game against Memphis.Tech struggled in the first half again, shooting 10-31 at 32 percent from the field and struggled with three-point shots as they went three for 10 on the game. The Jackets hit just one of their first 11 shots.

The veteran players came to the forefront in the second half as Tech overcame a 16-point halftime deficit. Forward Jeremis Smith scored 21 points for the Jackets and pulled down nine rebounds, while Ra'Sean Dickey scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds.

The Jackets did not have the same fortune in the third game as UCLA's defense proved to be too much for the young Jackets to handle. They fell to the then No. 5 and now No. 1 Bruins 88-73 in the finals of the tournament.

"It's early in the year, so it's going to change," said Hewitt. "I doubt we're going to play a team that executes their offense better than them. They execute really well and they get ahead, and when they get a lead it's going to be tough to beat them because they take great shots."