Georgia Tech came agonizingly close to a third consecutive ACC win Wednesday night. The Yellow Jackets had two possessions inside the final 15 seconds to beat Virginia Tech, but couldn’t score on either, and they lost 62-61 to the Hokies at Cassell Coliseum.
They weren’t the reason Georgia Tech lost, but might be the plays that linger longest in the Jackets’ memories.
“As a coach, all you can ask for is at the end there, to have a chance to win the game, and we had a chance,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said.
Georgia Tech had its first opportunity at a game-winner following Hokies guard Seth Allen’s drive to the basket put the Hokies ahead 62-61 with 15 seconds to play. The Jackets advanced the ball past halfcourt and called time with 11.1 seconds left. Pastner drew up a play to either get the ball to forward Quinton Stephens at the top of the key or, failing that, for guard Tadric Jackson to inbounds the ball with an alley-oop to Ben Lammers.
Stephens was covered, and Jackson, under heavy pressure on the sideline, lobbed the ball to the rim for Lammers.
“He was open for a split second, but we threw it a little late,” Pastner said.
The ball was a little off target, Lammers, impeded by Virginia Tech forward Zach LeDay, couldn’t make a clean catch and the ball bounced away into Virginia Tech’s possession. The Jackets were forced to foul Justin Robinson with 8.9 seconds left.
“If it was literally like two inches over, I would have been able to catch it,” Lammers said. “I got one hand on it, but I wasn’t able to keep it down.”
Robinson missed the front end of his one-and-one, and guard Josh Heath rushed the ball upcourt. Pastner had drawn up a “follow” play, with Stephens trailing the play upcourt and taking a pass from Heath, akin to the play that Villanova used to win the national championship against North Carolina. The play was executed as designed. Heath dropped the ball off for Stephens on the right wing outside the 3-point arc with three seconds left. Stephens took three dribbles to the opposite elbow and lofted a fadeaway jumper from the free-throw line as time expired. The shot bounced off the front rim.
“We were told just to get the best shot, and their guys really played out, guarded the other guys, I was trailing, so I got it, attacked it, pulled up,” Stephens said.
It was the first time that Stephens could remember taking a last-second shot at Georgia Tech.
“Maybe back in high school, but other than that, Marcus (Georges-Hunt) was taking those shots,” he said. “I’d be the rebounder. But I’m 0-for-1 right now, but if the next opportunity comes, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
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