ATLANTA (December 23, AP) – Georgia Tech was having no trouble scoring in the first half Saturday night, but Paul Hewitt wanted more.
“Even though our ball movement was good, believe it or not, our offensive execution was horrible,” Hewitt said following a 94-58 win over Morgan State. “And that definitely was a point of discussion in the locker room.”
His talk apparently worked. Shaun Fein led the way with 18 points and Alvin Jones added 17 as the Yellow Jackets (7-3) buried Morgan State in the second half.
Tech forced 24 turnovers and was credited with 14 steals.
“Our press makes a big difference,” Jones said. “We got it going, and it really seemed to fluster them.”
Coming off an 80-66 loss at No. 3 Stanford Tuesday, Tech shot 52.2 percent for the game, and led 84-48 on Robert Brooks’ five-foot jump shot with 4:42 remaining.
Jones was 7-for-7 from the field and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
“We’ve got Alvin in there and when he establishes himself, he can get some good looks,” Hewitt said of his 6-foot-11 center. “He’s done a good job of that all year and he deserves a lot of credit for his development offensively.”
Darryl LaBarrie scored 14 points and Marvin Lewis had 13 for Tech, which has won three of its last four games. The Jackets were shooting 45.1 percent entering the night.
Morgan State (2-5), which lost 78-64 at San Diego State Thursday, managed only a basket by Brandon Reece during a nearly six-minute span of the second half.
Curtis King, who got a technical foul late in the game for fighting with Tech guard T.J. Vines, led the Bears with 16 points. Michael Canady added 12 for the Baltimore-based school.
“Their pressure got to us a little bit, and we lost our poise at times,” Morgan State coach Chris Fuller said. “We knew Alvin Jones was a good player. We tried not to let him catch the ball too close to the basket, but he hurt us with those turnaround jumpers.”
Every player on Tech’s roster scored except Vines, who handed out eight assists. The Jackets’ 31 assists were the second-most in school history, topped only by 34 they handed out against Youngstown State in 1993.
Fein, whose 24 points at Stanford led Tech, hit a 3-pointer to put his team up 44-27 with 2:48 left in the first half. His basket gave the Jackets their biggest lead before halftime.
Tech improved to 116-5 against non-conference opponents in games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum since 1981. The Jackets had won 13 straight home games against teams outside the ACC before losing 75-70 to Georgia Dec. 6.
