ATLANTA – Outscoring Georgia Tech (1-0) in the second half, Lamar University's men's basketball (1-1) team fought through a slow start Friday evening in McCamish Pavilion. Big Red battled to the end but fell short of closing the gap with the Yellowjackets, ultimately falling 88-69.
 
"I thought Georgia Tech got off to a good start," said head coach Tic Price. "They hit some shots and exploited our post players, going right at us. I thought they did a good job; they shot the ball considerably better than they did last year, and their length bothered us. In the second half we channeled the ball to the sideline which enabled us to get some traps and steals. What we're fighting right now is just trying to develop some consistency. Getting steals in the second half helped us to get into our transition game."
 
T.J. Atwood and Josh Nzeakor both scored the majority of their points in the second half; Atwood had 15 of his game-high 17 in the final 20 minutes and Nzeakor recorded all of his 12 points in the closing period. Joining Atwood and Nzeakor in double figures was Nick Garth (15 points) and Grehlon Easter (10 points).
 
The two teams traded turnovers and missed field goals after Lamar won the opening jump ball, but Georgia Tech was able to draw blood first on a driving layup with 17:39 left in the half. The Yellowjackets stretched their lead as the Cardinals continued to struggle a bit on the offensive end with the size of Georgia Tech, and at the first media stoppage GT led 6-0. An Atwood dunk broke open the scoring for Lamar, and the Cards answered every Georgia Tech bucket with one of their own, staying within six points at the second media stoppage, 11-5.
 
Turnovers started to hamper Lamar's ability to answer Georgia Tech's buckets in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Lamar turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and Tech turned those thefts into 17 points, a large part of the 22-point halftime deficit of 44-22. Easter led the way in scoring in the first half with eight points – each of his buckets snapping big runs from Georgia Tech.
 
Big Red seemed to find the answers it needed against Georgia Tech in the second half. The Cards had just three turnovers while forcing 10 Yellowjacket fumbles and shot a significantly improved 18-28 at the line compared to an 0-5 mark in the first half. But while Tech struggled with turnovers and at the line, the Yellowjackets were dangerous from beyond the arc. Lamar had cut the Georgia Tech lead down to just 13 points with a little over three minutes remaining and had the ball, but a turnover led to a transition three on the other end, pushing the lead back to 16. Lamar again cut it down to 14 on a put-back jumper from Garth only for Georgia Tech to answer with a three on the other end. LU outscored and outhustled Georgie Tech in final 20 minutes, but its first half deficit of 22 points proved to be too much of a mountain to climb in unfriendly territory.
 
The Cards continue their road trip Sunday at East Carolina, facing the Pirates in Williams Arena at 3 p.m.