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Men's basketball plays poorly in exhibtion loss to Athletes in Action By Nate Owen No cheering please ATLANTA November 6, 1998
 The Georgia Tech Men's Basketball Team has a lot of work to do. In an exhibition game played on Monday night, the Jackets looked very tentative and nervous, leading to a sloppy 84-73 loss to Athletes in Action.
With the exception of only a few short spurts by the Jackets, the Athletes in Action (AIA) controlled the play for most of the game. One of those spurts forced a 41 all tie at the midway intermission and another with about 5 minutes to play in the game shrank the AIA lead to 2, but the Jackets would get no closer.
The Jackets, who lost their star player, Dion Glover on the first day of practice, had another scare when Jon Babul and Alvin Jones went down on the same play late in the second half. Babul's injury looked the more serious of the two, as he was carried to the bench with an apparent knee injury. Jones' injury came on an apparent elbow (the referees didn't see it that way) above the eye that was closed in the final minutes of the game.
Junior guard/forward Jason Floyd, who shot 8 for 13 from the field canning 5 treys in the process, had 21 points, paced Tech in the game. Jones chipped in 18 points and 4 blocks before he went down, and T.J. Vines had 15 points, including 4 three-pointers.
The game was marred with turnovers and poor shooting. The major faults for the Jackets were an inability to rebound or shoot free throws. The Athletes in Action outrebounded the Jackets almost 2-1 at 55 to 30. But just as important, Tech shot a woeful 8-21 from the strike. If Bobby Cremins' team is going to get better, improvement must start from these two areas.
A pleasant surprise for the "rambunctious" 1,823 people in attendance at the not-so-Thrilla Dome was the offensive play of Alvin Jones. His work during the off season in the low post created a sorely needed facet of the game for a team that had lost much of its scoring punch in the off-season.
"The one positive thing was that we were getting the ball inside to Alvin," said Jackets head coach Bobby Cremins. "I thought that was really good. Alvin played very well. He got a little tired, though, and they pushed him away from the basket."
Todd Fuller, a '97 graduate of NC State, who is currently employed by the NBA's Golden State Warriors, led the AIA with 20 points. Another NC State graduate, Jeremy Hyatt, put the nail in the coffin of the Jackets when he nailed three straight trifectas down the stretch, as it seemed the Jackets might be able to jump back into the game.
Casey Shaw, a '98 graduate of the University of Toledo, who had 15 points and 9 rebounds, was one of the other AIA players in double figures, along with Mike Penberthy, a '97 graduate of Master College, who chipped in 13 points.
The game marked the debut of Tony Akins in a Georgia Tech uniform. The highly touted freshman guard from Lilburn seemed nervous and unsure on the court, although he only made one turnover. Akins shot a disappointing 2 for 17 from the field for 5 points.
Darryl LaBarrie, also in his first game for Georgia Tech, gave the Jackets some good minutes off the bench, scoring 5 points and giving some needed rest to Vines and Akins. LaBarrie is a transfer from Florida A&M who sat out last season to become eligible. Ashley Kelley, a redshirt junior who has made his living on the practice squad, was the only other Tech reserve to see playing time.
"We needed a game," commented Cremins on the game. "We looked very nervous at times and tentative. Obviously, we didn't play real well, but that's why we have exhibition games. When you have a game like that, you want to learn something from it."
The next test for the Jackets will be next Monday night as they take on All-Star California at 7:30 in the Arch Deluxe at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Jackets will then start their regular season at home the next week against Charleston Southern.
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Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
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