Two separate second half 11-point leads weren’t enough for the UMass men’s basketball team to hang on against Georgia Tech in its first of three games in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Thursday night.
The Minutemen were outscored 16-6 over the final four and a half minutes of game time – and scored just nine points in the last nine minutes – in their 73-70 loss to the Yellow Jackets in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Robert Davis Jr. missed a potential off-balance, game-tying 3 in the final seconds that would’ve sent the game to overtime. UMass continued its porous efforts from the charity stripe in the loss, shooting 42 percent on 19 attempts. That along with a 26-point differential in bench scoring made all the difference in Thursday’s outcome.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game,” UMass head coach Frank Martin said. “Our bench just never helped us today, we got royally outplayed their bench to our bench. And then when you go 8-for-19 from the foul line, you’re not gonna win these kind of games. I’m disappointed, but they don’t pass out trophies for playing hard. You gotta figure out a way to win games, and we let this one get away.”
Matt Cross had a team-high 17 points to lead the four Minutemen in double figures. Rahsool Diggins cashed in five 3s good for 15 points, and Jayden Ndjigue (11 ponts) and Josh Cohen (10 points) combined for 21 points in the loss.
Even with the lead dwindling as the second half progressed, the Minutemen were still in good position to win when Cross drilled his third 3-pointer of the night with just over three minutes to go to put UMass ahead 67-64.
But just as it did all game, Georgia Tech had a response. Point guard Naithan George came back and swished home a bomb from well beyond the arc to tie it back up, which kickstarted seven straight Yellow Jackets points.
Georgia Tech just wanted it more down the stretch.
“They got all that momentum in the last four minutes, and we just couldn’t slow the train down,” Martin said. “The way you slow down that train is you gotta go make a basket. For example, Matt makes a three deep in the game. Their point guard, who’s not a three-point shooter, had not even attempted a three, and he comes down and sticks a three and ties it back up. Give them credit, their guys made some plays to figure out a way to win.”
Kyl Sturdivant poured in a game-high 21 points on 60 percent shooting, while Dallan Coleman and Baye Ndongo each tallied 12 points to lead Georgia Tech’s scoring attack. Former Minuteman Tafara Gapare went 0-for-1 with two blocks in just six minutes of play.
UMass’ first four field goals of the game all came from long distance. The Minutemen haven’t shot the three ball well this season all things considered, yet they still shot 31 of them on Thursday – nearly half of their 67 field goal attempts.
Martin said the overall length of the Yellow Jackets forced them to settle from deep.
“You gotta make some threes against them. They’re really long on the perimeter. You gotta make some threes to get that length to spread out, then you can get the ball inside,” Martin said. “We just didn’t make enough of them. And then when we had our opportunities [down low], we just didn’t convert. Give them credit. They blocked some shots.”
As the second half clock ticked away, Cross was called for his fourth foul. Martin subbed him out to save his star senior for crunch time. But several minutes after the whistle, the officials determined that there was no foul on Cross, giving him only three.
He immediately checked back in the game, but those valuable minutes were long gone – and the Yellow Jackets had already began cutting into the lead.
“We went through a three-minute stretch where we thought he had four [fouls]. Instead he only had three, but they hadn’t gone to review the play,” Martin said. “That hurt us. In a physical game like this, not having your most physical player on the floor is a problem.”
Although the officiating in the second half was questionable (a goaltending call was reversed upon review, which wiped a Diggins basket off the board despite a similar call earlier in the frame not being reviewed), UMass had full control of the game. The loss stings, but the Minutemen have no time to mope.
UMass (6-3) is right back at it tomorrow, taking on the loser of Portland and Hawaii at 1:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2. This is the perfect test to see how a young team will bounce back.
“Right now I’m worried to see how my team handles a hard loss like today, then have to regroup and be ready to play tomorrow,” Martin said. “That’s why playing in this event is so good for us. You get quality opponents and you can’t let a bad day or a bad moment create two bad moments. I’m gonna find out about the leadership of our team how we go from today to tomorrow.”