It was like a scene out of your favorite sports movie. Or at least one that you moderately like. The senior, in his last home game, after a series of decent performances in demoralizing loses puts together the game of his life. Maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was that prolific. The Yellow Jackets ended a seven-game losing streak by defeating Miami 78-68, on senior night.
One of the honorees, Lewis Clinch put on an awe-inspiring performance scoring 30 points in the game, including nine three-pointers. Clinch’s nine three’s ties for the most by a Jacket in an ACC game. Two of those three’s came in the opening moments, as the Jackets jumped out to an early 16-6 lead.
As has been the case throughout the season, Tech’s opponent mounted a comeback. When Dwayne Collins made his second free throw, the Hurricanes cut Tech’s lead to four at 16-12. Unlike other games, that was the closest that Miami would get as Clinch hit four more shots from beyond the arc and ended the half with 20 points. “This is probably, by far, the best I’ve felt,” said Clinch of his shooting touch during the game. “As far as my shooting, the rim felt like it was as big as the ocean.”
In second half, the Jackets continued to stymie Miami on defense, holding them to 32.4 from the field and holding Jack McClinton to 3-12 shooting and 13 points. Head coach Paul Hewitt praised Clinch and Nick Foreman for their defense of McClinton. “We took Clinch off of McClinton because he was shooting so well that we didn’t want to wear out his legs,” said Hewitt.
While Tech’s defense was holding McClinton up, Clinch was knocking them down. He hit three more three-pointers in the second half, including one with 5:46 remaining in the game that gave Tech a 12-point lead and defused Miami’s momentum. He also had a magical lob assist to fellow senior Alade Aminu late in the game.
There was a scary moment came late in the game as well. Iman Shumpert drove to the basket after a steal and was fouled hard by DeQuan Jones. Shumpert remained on the ground for several minutes and was carried off with what Hewitt described as a hip pointer. Also, Aminu banged his wrist on a dunk. Hewitt commented that he’d know more about the injuries Thursday.
Crosskey can be reached at jcrosskey@scoreatl.com.
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