Basketball loses home opener to UNCG
By Jon Haeffele/ Student Publications
Maurice Miller drives to the basket. He finished with 10 points and two assists. He shared time with Matt Causey at the point guard position.
The Jackets' basketball season did not start off on a positive note last Friday when they lost to UNC-Greensboro at the Thrillerdome, 83-74. It was the Jackets first home opener loss since the 1980-81 season when Tech lost to Western Carolina. The Jackets played well in the first half, taking a four point lead into the second half. Still, they were never in control of the second half.
Fully healed from last season's back injury, Anthony Morrow led the team with 23 points on eight-of-18 shooting and three-of-six behind the arc. Morrow also chipped in six rebounds. Jeremis Smith added nine points and 10 rebounds.
For the Spartans, Kyle Hines carried the team for the first half before his teammates made it a game in the second half. Hines totaled 25 points and nine rebounds. Mikko Koivisto added 16 points and three assists while Dwayne Johnson scored 11 points, all on free throws, and added five assists and five rebounds.
During the first half, Johnson got the first three of his points on three free throws when Matt Causey fouled him behind the arc. The free throws put the Spartans up by one. Tech and Greensboro went basket-for-basket until Landon Clement was fouled on a shot and hit one of his two free throws. Prior to the foul, Tech head coach Paul Hewitt was called for a technical foul. The Spartans missed the technical free throws. After freshman Maurice Miller, in his first start, tied the game with two of his own free throws, Hines led a fastbreak score that ended with a layup and a Mouhammad Faye foul. Hines made the free throw and Ben Stywall hit a three for the Spartans to follow up. With the Spartans up by 6, Morrow hit a jumper followed by Miller scoring two points on free throws. The teams traded baskets until Gani Lawal stole the ball for an easy dunk and was fouled on the play. Lawal made the free throw to put Tech up by six.
Greensboro made it look easy when they tied the game again, but with Tech up by one, Smith put the ball in the basket and was fouled on the way up. He hit the free throw to give the Jackets the four point lead into half time.
When Tech came out during the second half, they looked like a completely different team. The Spartans came ready to play and the Jackets looked defensive for much of the half.
Greensboro flipped the score with seven straight points to take a six point lead and never looked back. Tech got within one point when Lawal scored on a fast break dunk following a Miller three pointer. That was as close as the Jackets would get, as Greensboro continued to pour on the points. The Spartans led by as many as 14 points in the second half. Morrow ended the game with a three pointer at the buzzer to decrease the lead to nine points.
Tech had a quick turn around before their first road game of the season at Tennessee State, defeating the Tigers 99-85. Unfortunately, Tech's inability to score points also plagued them during much of the first half in Nashville.
Morrow scored a career-high 31 points and a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with four assists. The game did not start out well for Tech though, as they hit just one of eight three point shots in the first half.
Tennessee State played the Jackets tough the entire first half and led going into halftime by four. Tech found their shooting stroke in the second half. The Jackets hit 22-32 shots and 6-12 behind the arc. Clinch started the scoring with a three point basket just 11 seconds into the second half. State followed that with their own three when Gerald Robinson hit one from downtown.
State maintained their lead for about three minutes into the second half when Clinch hit his second three to give Tech the lead for good. Tech managed to push the lead to 20 with seven minutes left and were able to maintain it until they won the game. Despite the Jackets scoring streak in the second half, they still gave up 85 points.
The Jackets had a size advantage inside and that showed with a 40-30 advantage in rebounds. The size advantage showed on the box score as well where Tech outscored State 48-18 in the paint.
