Jan 11, 2003
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA (AP) – B.J. Elder scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half and Chris Bosh added 11 points and 12 rebounds as Georgia Tech beat North Carolina State 85-61 Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets (7-5, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their second in a row after a three-game losing streak, and avoided starting 0-2 in conference play for the second straight year. Last season, they lost their first seven before rallying to a 7-9 finish.
Levi Watkins had a career-high 15 for the Wolfpack (8-3, 1-1), and Josh Powell added 12. Leading scorer Julius Hodge scored only nine, the first time this season he hasn’t been in double figures, and sat out the final 11:01 after a series of bad plays.
N.C. State fell to 0-3 on the road.
Hodge, averaging 19.2 points coming in, finished 1-for-6. He went to the bench for the first time soon after the break when he missed an ill-advised 3-pointer, and got back in when Powell picked up his fourth foul a couple of minutes later.
With the Wolfpack down 10 for the first time, Hodge missed two free throws with 13:34 left. Ed Nelson hit a jumper on the other end, giving the Yellow Jackets their largest lead.
It got bigger. N.C. State missed three straight shots, and Elder hit a jumper from the base line, followed by a pull-up 3-pointer by Jarrett Jack on the break. Georgia Tech led 54-37 and cruised from there.
Hodge and Marcus Melvin sat down together when the lead reached 19, but Melvin returned for the final 5 minutes.
Elder finished one off his season high. Marvin Lewis had 15 for Georgia Tech, and Jack and Ed Nelson scored 11 apiece.
