St. Joseph`s Begins Post Season Madness

The little school that could, did.

Marvin O`Connor scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half when St. Joseph`s blew most of an 18-point lead before recovering to beat Georgia Tech 66-62 on Thursday in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.

St. Joe`s, the second-smallest school in the 65-team tournament with 3,450 students on its Philadelphia campus, saw its lead dwindle to three points twice in the final 1:43.

But the Yellow Jackets (17-13) came up short on two easy scoring chances. Tony Akins saw his shot spin out of the basket and Alvin Jones, the first Tech center to be chosen all-Atlantic Coast Conference, missed an alley-oop dunk.

The Hawks (26-6) missed the front end of free-throw attempts by Damian Reid and Jameer Nelson before Nelson hit two foul shots to keep St. Joe`s ahead 65-60 with 29.7 seconds left.

Nelson added 13 points for St. Joe`s, which led by 16 points in the first half.

Akins led Tech with 16 points, including 7-of-7 free throws, and Darryl LaBarrie added 15 points. Jones finished with eight points and 10 rebounds after being held scoreless in the first half.

Both teams were plagued by sloppiness in a game that saw Tech commit 17 turnovers to St. Joe`s 14 and neither team shooting better than 40 percent.

St. Joe`s, the ninth seed, is back in the NCAAs for the first time since reaching the final 16 in 1997.

Tech made the tournament for the first time since its final 16 appearance in 1996. The Yellow Jackets, whose eighth seed equals their lowest ever, tied for fifth in the ACC, then upset Virginia in the conference tourney before losing to North Carolina in the semifinals.

A 3-pointer by O`Connor gave St. Joe`s its largest lead, 46-28, early in the second half before the Yellow Jackets awoke.

Tech scored 15 of the next 17 points to get to 48-43 with 11:47 remaining. Jones had his first field goal of the game in the spurt and scored six straight points.

Halston Lane missed a dunk, but Tech controlled the rebound and Robert Brooks scored in the lane as the Yellow Jackets trailed 50-47.

O`Connor hit consecutive 3-pointers and scored on a dunk to push St. Joe`s lead to 58-49 with 8:18 remaining.

Tied at eight, St. Joe`s used an 18-2 run to take a 26-10 lead with 5:43 remaining. The Yellow Jackets went just under seven minutes without a field goal in that stretch. Bill Phillips had six points for the Hawks, including a backdoor basket that ended the run.

Georgia Tech got within eight on consecutive 3-pointers by Akins and Marvin Lewis, but Tech was outscored 13-4 over the final 3:38 to trail 41-24 at the break.

Courtesy Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2001.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News (AP)