Georgia Bulldogs down Stony Brook in NIT Tip-Off
Dawgs bounce back from Tech defeat with 80-70 basketball win over Stony Brook.
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Georgia Bulldogs junior Charles Mann scored 16 points, shooting 10-of-14 on free throws, and claimed nine rebounds to lead Georgia to an 80-70
over Stony Brook in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Tuesday.
The contest was not as close as the final score suggests.
Kenny Gaines came off the bench to add 13 points for the Bulldogs (1-1).
The difference in the game came at the free throw line. Georgia made 33 free throws on 48 attempts – both marks tying for the fifth best mark in school history. Stony Brook visited the free throw stripe 26 times, making 20. Otherwise the teams were close in every statistical category.
Faced with a Georgia zone defense, the Seawolves (1-1) converted one field goal attempt during 10 minutes of the second half as the Dawgs put the game away. Carson Puriefoy led Stony Brook with a career-high 26 points, 21 coming in the first half when the crafty junior alternated three point baskets with finishes at the rim.
“We beat a very good basketball team and we should feel good about it,” head coach Mark Fox told Georgiadogs.com. “I don’t feel great because I feel like last week I let everybody down. Last week’s loss [to Ga. Tech] felt like 20 losses. So now it feels like 19. We beat a good basketball team [tonight], and we should feel good about it, but we’ve got work to do.”
Georgia required 58.3 percent shooting from the field (14-of-24), including four 3-pointers, and 73% from the foul line to build a 48-41 halftime lead. But it was Georgia’s second half zone defense that allowed the Dawgs to go on a 19-4 run with 15:42 left in the game and take a 71-50 advantage on Gaines’ 3-pointer with 7:48 remaining
Senior Nemanja Djurisic and freshman Yante Maten added 11 points each for Georgia – a career scoring high for Maten. Marcus Thornton scored 10 points, and was the Bulldogs defensive star with nine rebounds and two steals. Sophomore J.J. Frazier tied a career high with four assists to go with eight points.
“We played with composure and poise offensively,” Coach Fox continued. “We really helped each other out tonight and were a good offensive team for most of the game.”
Scott King and Jameel Warney added 12 points each for Stony Brook.
A Stegeman Coliseum crowd of 4,787 watched the two schools face off for the first time. It was just the second time Georgia has played a team from the America East Conference. The Bulldogs edged Vermont, 63-56, in the first round of the 2014 post-season NIT in Athens.
Georgia will play host twice this weekend as Troy comes to Stegeman Coliseum at 7 p.m. ET on Friday night, and Florida Atlantic visits Athens at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday.