Bulldogs suffer first loss; lose to Irish in double OT

By Special

For the AJC

By Carl Kotala

For the AJC

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- A sprained ankle kept Trey Thompkins out of the first three games of the season for the Georgia basketball team.

So naturally his first game back felt like three games all rolled into one.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they didn't take advantage of the firepower. Notre Dame got a pair of big baskets from Eric Atkins and Ben Hansbrough hit two free throws with 27.7 seconds remaining in double overtime as the Fighting Irish defeated Georgia 89-83 in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic at HP Field House.

Georgia (3-1) will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the loser of Thursday night’s late game between Temple and California.

“It was a tough loss,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “Credit Notre Dame. They played awfully well.”

So did the Bulldogs, with the exception of a six-minute stretch in the second half when the Fighting Irish went on a 14-0 run to not only erase a 10-point Georgia lead, but put the Bulldogs offense into a funk from which it never really escaped.

Notre Dame, which had been getting burned inside and giving up dunks while trying to play the Bulldogs man-to-main, switched to a 2-3 zone during that stretch and it gave Georgia fits. Even the free-throw line became a challenge as the Bulldogs went just 2 for 12 in the second half of regulation.

“It caused us problems,” Fox said of the Notre Dame zone. “Once we got some open looks, we didn’t shoot it well. We kind of got stuck. And when we had chances to get easy points, we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Junior guard Travis Leslie led the Bulldogs with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals, Gerald Robinson had 16 points and Thompkins had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots -- including a tip-in with 10-4 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime.

The preseason SEC Player of the Year looked a little rusty, at least offensively, early on. But he got going in the second half, hitting several key baskets and coming up with all three of his blocked shots. All this after practicing only one time in the past month.

“I played him a lot more than I wanted to [33 minutes], but he’s such a competitive guy,” Fox said. “For a guy that hasn’t practiced, I was pretty impressed. It was a tough injury for him. I was proud of the way he competed.”

Georgia, which had come from behind to win its first three games, looked like it might be able to do it again after Thompson tipped the ball not once, but twice, with the second one rolling into tie the game in regulation.

However, a Hansbrough free throw with 4.7 seconds remaining in the first overtime tied the game at 69 and the Irish were able to take control late in the second overtime period. The Irish (5-0) had four players in double figures, led by Tim Abromaitis with 25 points.

The Bulldogs now will find out how well they’re able to rebound from an excruciating loss.

“It is early, but you should never accept losing -- never,” Fox said. “We did lose to a good team. We lost a hard-fought game. We’ve got to bounce back. We’re going to play another good team.”