Georgia Tech is one game away from a trophy.
Subjecting Cal State Bakersfield to the defensive heat that wilted many ACC opponents, Tech won its first NIT semifinal game in 46 years with breathing room, a 76-61 victory Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Closing out on the ball, deflecting passes and sealing off the defensive glass, the Yellow Jackets took the game away from the Roadrunners in the first half and never gave it back.
With the win, the Jackets advanced to Thursday night’s NIT final, where they can win the first NIT championship in school history. The Jackets will play the winner of the TCU-Central Florida game that followed the Tech game. Game time is 8 p.m. Thursday.
It extended by another two days a most unlikely chapter in the team’s 102-season history, one that began with the most modest of expectations and will conclude with a shot at a championship, albeit a second-tier one.
Mixing defenses up and employing its length, Tech (21-15) hounded the Roadrunners into 35 percent shooting from the field, well off their season average of 44.2 percent shooting. CSUB (25-10), one of the nation’s most effective teams at extracting turnovers, could not rattle the Jackets with its pressure. Tech turned the ball over just seven times, its season low. The Jackets shot 43.3 percent from the field, about average but sufficient with the way they took care of the ball and defended.
Ahead 22-18 at the 7:43 mark of the first half, guard Josh Okogie contributed three free throws and forward Quinton Stephens knocked down a corner 3-pointer and added a free throw for a 7-0 lead that pushed the lead to 11 points.
The Roadrunners closed the gap to seven points later in the half, but with the way that Tech was defending, it seemed practically insurmountable. When guard Corey Heyward took Okogie’s pass and drained a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner with 14:53 to play to push the lead to 48-35, part of an 8-1 run, it was all but over.
Center Ben Lammers was in his ACC defensive player of the year form, challenging shots in the lane and using his reach to deflect passes to create turnovers. In addition to his 19 points, his nine defensive rebounds (he had 11 total) helped Tech claim 28 of 41 available rebounds on the defensive end, limiting CSUB to 12 second-chance points on a night when it was thirsty for scores from any source.
Okogie led the Jackets with 22 points on 7-for-18 shooting from the field.
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