Jackets give Duke scare, Reeves passes career milestone
Georgia Tech opened ACC play on Wednesday afternoon with a tough assignment on the road at No. 5 Duke and held its own almost the entire way before the Blue Devils made a few more plays down the stretch to earn hard-fought 85-79 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Jackets (9-5, 0-1 ACC) built a 43-39 halftime lead thanks to to some hot first-half shooting that included five 3-pointers and the team shooting 67.9 percent from the field. They then extended that lead to as many as seven early in the second half before Duke (12-1, 1-0 ACC) started to work its way back into the game.
The Blue Devils’ defense made things tough on Tech in the second half, throwing multiple different looks at Damon Stoudamire‘s bunch and holding the visiting Jackets to a 38.5 percent mark from the field over the final 20 minutes and doing a lot of its own offensive work at the free throw line with 13 makes from the stripe down the stretch.
Duke also got another huge performance from national Freshman of the Year candidate Cameron Boozer who scored a game-high 26 points, including several huge buckets in the second half. He added 12 rebounds to finish with the double-double, made three 3s and knocked down 7-of-10 free throws.
Duke had four other players in double figures, including Isaiah Evans with 17 points, Cayden Boozer with 13, Caleb Foster with 12 and Patrick Ngongba with 11. Ngongba added nine rebounds as the Devils outrebounded Tech 42-28 overall.
Another big disparity in the game came at the free throw line as Duke made 24-of-35 attempts there while Tech made just 11-of-13.
The Jackets were led by Kowacie Reeves Jr. who scored 23 points, including a 5-of-7 mark from 3-point territory, as the veteran went over the 1,000-career point mark with the effort.
Jaeden Mustaf was also in double figures with 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds for Tech’s top total in that category. Lamar Washington and Chas Kelley III each added 10 points with Washington dishing out six assists.
Other contributors for Tech were Akai Fleming with nine points and a 6-of-6 mark from the free throw line and Mouhamed Sylla with eight points.
Georgia Tech will look to bounce back on Saturday and even its ACC record at 1-1 when the Jackets host Boston College for a 2 p.m. tip at McCamish Pavilion.
Duke will head out on the road for an ACC matchup at Florida State Saturday at 3:45 p.m.
