Late shot beats Tech

By Gary Long

For the AJC

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The sharp tongue-lashing Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt unleashed after a salvaged but uninspired two-point victory over North Carolina State on Saturday produced no visible benefits in the first half Wednesday night at Miami.

By contrast, the message delivered after the Yellow Jackets plunged to a 41-27 halftime deficit to the Hurricanes did produce positive results ... but not a victory.

Miami guard James Dews’ 15-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer offset Tech’s frantic comeback over the final 20 minutes and produced a 64-62 Miami triumph after the Jackets had rallied from a 60-52 disadvantage over the final five minutes.

“It’s definitely a tough loss,” freshman Brian Oliver said of the setback that dropped the Yellow Jackets into 5-5 mediocrity in the scrambled ACC. Inescapably, losing to a Miami team that had lost seven of nine in league play will damage Tech’s tournament aspirations. “The mood’s pretty down right now,” Oliver said.

For just a few moments, it appeared the Jackets’ spirits might have soared sky-high. Point guard Iman Shumpert pared Miami’s lead to 62-60 with a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining. Then, after Dews missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 18 seconds left, Shumpert wriggled through traffic in the lane for a five-foot basket that forged a tie with nine seconds to play.

But during a timeout, Miami coach Frank Haith put the Hurricanes’ faith and hopes back on Dews. “He grabbed me aside and said, ‘You’re going to win the game for us,’ ’’ Dews said.

“I felt like he probably wanted to redeem himself,” Haith explained. Besides, he added simply, “James is a senior.”

Hewitt credited Dews with having “the presence of mind to shot-fake our guys and [he] stepped through and got a clean look.”

Gani Lawal teamed with Oliver and freshman Glen Rice Jr. to help Tech climb from the 14-point halftime hole. He contributed 17 points and 18 rebounds while freshman Derrick Favors suffered through a foul-plagued seven-point effort.

But of the comeback, Lawal said, “There are no moral victories. We came out the first half too lackadaisical. We can’t do that. We really should have put ’em away early. We made it a game, and it shouldn’t have been.”

For the game’s first five minutes and 20 seconds, the Jackets’ defense pitched a shutout and built an 8-0 advantage. But then it began to rain 3-point goals.

Freshman Garrius Adams broke the Hurricanes’ 0-for-7 drought with a 3-pointer, and sophomore Malcolm Grant followed with three from 3-point range as Miami took its first lead at 12-11.

Tech led once more when Favors jammed home a basket off a slick feed from Lawal. But the Hurricanes took total command from that point forward with a 17-5 run fueled by two more 3-point goals and six free throws by 295-pound center Reggie Johnson. In the first 20 minutes, the Hurricanes made seven of 15 3-point shots.

“We kind of lost our way there for a little while,” said Hewitt, whose club slipped to 17-7 overall.

Tech’s play heated up. But the loss might have chilling consequences.