The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were the first team from a Power Five Conference to participate in this year’s Summer of Thunder and head coach Brian Gregory called it a learning experience moving forward as they prepare for the upcoming season.

The Yellow Jackets completed their Bahamas Tour with a 77-69 win over the CTG Knights on Sunday afternoon.

“I thought this was a great trip for us, having an opportunity to play three different styles of teams. The last game was very physical, slower paced, well-coached team, but our guys responded well. It was great to have an opportunity to play a lot of the younger players. This was positive all the way around,” Gregory said. “Overall, just an unbelievable experience. The people here in the Bahamas have been great and the teams we have played, even though some of the scores don’t indicate it, they were well coached and played hard so it was a great experience for us.”

Sunday’s game was the closest contest for the Yellow Jackets on their three-game schedule.

Nick Jacobs led Tech with 31 points, Tadric Jackson and Travis Jorgenson each finished with nine points, while Charles Mitchell added eight points and eight points.

Trevon Grant led the Knights with 21 points and 18 rebounds.

In their Summer of Thunder debut, the Yellow Jackets topped the Atlantis All-Stars 101-60.

Mitchell led Georgia Tech with 28 points and 10 rebounds, Quinton Stephens scored 17, Corey Heyward added 13, Ben Lammers posted a near double double with nine points and a game high 14 rebounds and Josh Heath chipped in with 10.

In game two they defeated the Providence Storm 115-81.

Jackson led seven Yellow Jackets with 21 points.

Jacobs scored 16 points with nine rebounds, Mitchell scored 15, Sylvester Ogbonda and Heyward scored 13 points apiece, Jorgenson added 11 and Lammers chipped in with 10.

Gregory said there were definite takeaways on the court which will help the Yellow Jackets continue to prepare for this fall, including adjusting to the new NCAA 30-second shot clock.

“Two of our best three-point shooters didn’t play and it has to challenge the other guys to make shots. When we go back and evaluate, one thing that we need to work on is that when we get open shots, put them in,” he said.

“That 30 seconds is a big difference. We want to play fast but we never want to be in a hurry. Sometimes with a 24-second shot clock you want to hurry some things and I think some of our turnovers were due to that.”

The Georgia Tech contingent bonded on and off the court and also took time out to interact with the Bahamian community.

“If you’re a basketball player and you really compete, and being a competitor is something you take pride in, as long as there is a ball and two hoops you go out there and compete, it shouldn’t matter. It was such a positive experience. Regardless of how much people are in the stands there’s a certain way you play when you put on a Georgia Tech uniform and I think our guys did that,” Gregory said.

“We did a community service clinic for some younger kids that was very impactful, not only for them but for us as well. You get to make this great trip, you get to stay in Atlantis, but you can never take those things [community outreach] for granted and I think our guys really understand and hopefully this trip has driven that point home a little bit.”

This year there are 14 Division I programmes that are expected to participate in this year’s event, including: The University of North Florida, Ball State University, Eastern Illinois University, Georgia Tech, Saint Louis University, Southern Utah University, Youngstown State University, University of Central Florida, University of North Dakota, Middle Tennessee St. University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Bethune-Cookman University, West Virginia University and the University of Texas Arlington.