Georgia Basketball: Bench shines in win over Morehouse
By Matt Green
After getting little to no production from the bench in he first six games of the season, The Dawgs’ bench shined in an 86-72 win over Morehouse on Wednesday night.
Coming into this game Yante Maten and J.J. Frazier had provided nearly all of the offense for the Bulldogs. Maten came in averaging 21.5 points and 9.3 rebounds while Frazier came in averaging 14.5 points and 4.0 assists.
But things were different on Wednesday.
It was refreshing to see someone other than their big two contribute offensively. The bench actually outscored the starters 52-34 in this game.
True freshman Tyree Crump led the Bulldogs with 16 points after scoring just 7 points in the first six games combined. The freshman from Bainbridge was 4-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-2 for three-point range.
Fellow true freshman Jordan Harris also added 11 points off the bench. The Seminole County product also had a season-high four assists in the ball game.
Senior Kenny Paul Geno was actually second on the team with 15 points. Geno was 5-for-5 from the field, including 4-for-4 from downtown.
These two teams went back-and-forth in the first half, but Georgia ended the first half on a 13-4 run. They held the Maroon Tigers two only two field goals in the final 6:15 to take a 36-30 halftime lead.
Morehouse cut the Bulldogs’ lead to seven points with 14 minutes left, but that was as close as the game got.
Maten still had another productive game, scoring 14 points and grabbing four rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
The Dawgs had by far their best three-point shooting night of the season, going 11-for-22 from beyond the arc.
Frazier, however, did not have his shot falling, scoring just six points on just 3-for-12 shooting, but he did manage to affect the game in other ways. The senior point guard tallied five assists, four rebounds, two steals, and a block.
The Bulldogs are now 5-2 on the season. On Sunday they will take on Marquette (5-2) in Athens at 2:00.