Dec. 28, 2004
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ATLANTA – Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt was a man of his word.
He promised that his trio of talented freshman – Anthony Morrow, Ra’Sean Dickey and Zam Fredrick – would be getting more minutes because of their scoring ability. And they came through.
Morrow scored a career-high 20 points, including 11 in a late 27-3 surge by No. 9 Georgia Tech to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 92-58 victory over Lafayette on Tuesday night.
Morrow, who was averaging only 3.5 points and 10 minutes per game, connected on 7-of-10 shots overall and 6-of-9 from 3-point range. He played 15 minutes.
Dickey added 15 points in 15 minutes for the Yellow Jackets (9-1), who also got 12 points from Luke Schenscher and 10 each from Jarrett Jack and Will Bynum.
Fredrick scored six points in nine minutes.
Bilal Abdullah led Lafayette (3-7) with 12 points. Sean Knitter added 11.
“Obviously our freshmen, Anthony Morrow and Ra’Sean Dickey, played extremely well. For the last few games, I’ve talked about how all three of those young guys, especially Dickey and Morrow, have been playing better and better in practice,” Hewitt said.
“All three of those guys can score. Zam’s minutes aren’t as consistent,” because he has veterans Jack, Bynum and B.J. Elder ahead of him, Hewitt said.
Georgia Tech was leading 55-47 when Isma’il Muhammad dunked to begin the 27-3 run with 10:55 left. The lead was 82-50 when the surge ended on a basket by Schenscher with 4:25 left. Morrow had 11 points in the run on three 3’s and a layup.
“I thought we competed pretty well early but their athleticism was too much and they kept running very good players at you,” Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon said. “When they started to go on their run, we just lost our poise.”
Lafayette surprised Georgia Tech by taking a four-point lead at 11-7 after 4:21 on a basket by Andrei Capusan. The Jackets, however, scored the next eight points to go up 15-11 on a basket by Schenscher with 7:58 left in the half. Georgia Tech led 37-29 at halftime.
Elder, Tech’s leading scorer, started the game. Hewitt benched Elder for the second half of the Yellow Jackets’ last game for lackluster play. Against the Leopards, he scored only five points in 22 minutes, hitting 2-of-9 from the field, including 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Last Wednesday, in a 90-48 win over Charleston Southern, Elder also scored five points, well below his 15.2-point average.
“He was more aggressive. If he plays with that type of aggressiveness, he’ll be fine,” Hewitt said.
TOM SALADINO
AP Sports Writer
