Georgia Tech lost its fourth straight conference game Thursday night, falling 72-63 to the visiting Florida State Seminoles at Alexander Memorial. With the loss, Tech falls to 10-13 and 3-7 in the ACC and FSU improves to 17-7 and 7-3 in conference play.
The pattern during the losing streak has been for Tech to give up a big run in the first half and then spend the rest of the game fighting and clawing to get back within shouting range, only to fall short. It was the same thing tonight. Eight minutes into the game, FSU held a 17-2 lead, having held Tech scoreless for seven minutes. Heading into the locker room, Paul Hewitt's club trailed 30-18.
Tech played a much better second half, putting up 45 points to FSU's 42. They brought the lead down to just seven at one point on their strong pressure defense but couldn't make the key play to get it closer than that. The pace of the game slowed to a crawl early, as an astounding 20 fouls were called in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The Jackets have struggled shooting the ball recently and that trend continued tonight. Tech shot just 19% in the first half and finished the game at 29.9% and 22.6% from behind the arc.
With Brian Oliver out, Tech's third leading scorer, it truly was a two-man game on the offensive side of the ball. Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice Jr. combined for 49 points but also missed 33 shots together.
Florida State was led in scoring by Chris Singleton who put on a show for the more than 20 professional scouts that were in attendance. The forward had 16 points and 10 rebounds and helped FSU break Tech's press. Michael Snaer and Okara White both got to double figures as well, scoring 15 and 12 points respectively.
The one area of the game that Tech did well in was rebounds, holding a 45-40 advantage at the glass. Tech's 26 offensive boards kept Tech in the game in the second half as well.
The Jackets had 77 shots to FSU's 45 and managed to lose.
Tech returns to action Sunday afternoon when they travel to Virginia Tech to take on the Hokies.