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ATLANTA (AP) -- Clarence Moore had a feeling he would have a hot
hand. He did.
"I felt that my shot was on during warmups," he said Sunday
after scoring a career-high 20 points to lead Georgia Tech to a
96-80 victory over Syracuse (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP). "Every look I had I was going to take it. I just found a little rhythm."
His 3-pointer 19 seconds into the game opened the scoring and
gave the Yellow Jackets a lead they never lost.
It was the second straight loss for the Orangemen (9-2), who
played their third consecutive game without coach Jim Boeheim. He
is expected to miss one more game following prostate surgery.
"I was disappointed how we came out and played at the start,"
said assistant coach Bernie Fine, who has been filling in for
Boeheim. "Maybe it's me just not doing a good job."
The Yellow Jackets (4-5) used a 13-0 run to take a 34-17 lead
and they were up 38-25 at halftime.
Syracuse cut the lead to 55-49 with 13:24 remaining on a
3-pointer by DeShaun Williams. But Georgia Tech came back with a
10-0 run that featured a 3-pointer by Tony Akins and a three-point
play by Marvin Lewis that made it 67-51 with 10:03 remaining.
"We're not the biggest team or the most physical team, but we
have a lot of quickness and we have some good ballhandlers and guys
that shoot the ball," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said.
"But when we let guys set up their offense and we're not
disruptive on defense, then we can get pushed around. Tonight I
though we did a great job of not allowing them to get into any kind
of comfortable rhythm," he said.
Kueth Duany led the Orangemen with 20 points, while Williams
added 16 and Preston Shumpert and James Thues each had 13.
Akins had 18 points and Lewis and Robert Brooks each added 17
for the Yellow Jackets, who twice built 24-point leads, the last on
a driving layup by Moore that made it 88-64 with 4:20 to play. The
17 points were a career-high for Brooks and Akins matched his
career-high with 10 assists.
"We certainly were aware coming into the game that Georgia Tech
has excellent shooters," Fine said. "Akins and Lewis are
exceptional. We were a little surprised by Moore and the fact that
he scored so well tonight."
Syracuse shot only 34 percent in the first half and committed 15
of its 23 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
The game was the nightcap of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
doubleheader that drew a crowd of 7,116 to Philips Arena.
Mississippi State beat Georgia State 72-63 in the opener.
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