Tech guard Clinch on dean’s list, eligible to play

Lewis Clinch learned just a few weeks before the school year that he didn’t have the grades to play basketball for Georgia Tech in the fall.

Tech coach Paul Hewitt thought Clinch had a pretty easy choice — go to Europe, catch on with a team and come back in the summer and work on his degree. Hewitt even offered to help.

Said Hewitt, “I just thought that was the natural move, to be honest with you. He said, ‘Nope, I’m going to work and get myself eligible and be ready to play.’”

It wasn’t easy, but Clinch made the grades. In fact, the guard from Cordele made dean’s list with two A’s, a B and a C. Clinch will make his debut, and likely start, against Georgia State tonight at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Said Hewitt, “He’s worked his tail off. He’s done a great job.”

He arrives at a crucial time. The Jackets are a wobbly 5-2 with home losses to Penn State and Illinois-Chicago. Further, point guard Moe Miller is scheduled to have surgery to repair a broken nose Wednesday and will likely be out at least three weeks. That opens a spot for Clinch, who has played point guard for the second team in practice.

Tech could use the scoring punch from the outside that Clinch has at times delivered.

“I’m excited and just ready to have an opportunity to play my senior season,” Clinch said. “I’ve learned a lot, matured a lot and just see things differently.”

Clinch said it was a misunderstanding with a professor, combined with the challenge of combining basketball and schoolwork, that caused his GPA to dip below the mandatory 2.0 after the 2008 spring semester. Clinch, a management major, was unable to pull it up high enough over the summer.

He credits his girlfriend, Stephanie Smith, and Jon Babul, a former player and now a member of the academic services staff, with helping him this term. He said he never seriously considered going to Europe.

“I feel like [re-gaining eligibility] is preparing me for something bigger,” he said. “I’m working harder academically and athletically.”

Hewitt has seen that growth. He said that Clinch was the best conditioned player on the team when practice began and that there have been days when he dominates practice.

Hewitt hopes for a strong finish. Clinch averaged 8.9 points per game in his first season, third best among ACC freshmen. As a sophomore, he led Tech in scoring through its first 10 games but was suspended from the team for the spring semester for violating the school’s honor code.

He started the first 14 games of his junior season, scoring in double figures 11 times. He was moved to the bench after that, though, and reached double figures just four more times.

“He has played some really good basketball, but I think for him, it’s probably a little bit unfulfilling,” Hewitt said. “He has an opportunity to really achieve all the things that he wants to achieve.”

Clinch says he wants to be more consistent in his life.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with being eligible,” he said. “It’s just staying focused and working hard.”