ATLANTA, Ga. - Florida Tech traveled to Georgia Tech for a exhibition against the 2021 ACC Tournament champions. The Panthers battled closely with the Yellow Jackets for the first half, before Georgia Tech pulled away in the second half for a 23 point win.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:   
Final: Florida Tech 56, Georgia Tech 79 
Records: Florida Tech (16-10, 9-9 SSC), Georgia Tech (11-16, 3-13 ACC) 
Location: McCamish Pavilion | Atlanta, Ga.   

  
FIRST HALF:   

• Sesan Russell hit a 3-pointer on Florida Tech's opening possession to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. 
• An inside bucket from Mekhii Noble gave the Panthers a 13-10 advantage with 14:19 remaining.  
• Five straight points, capped off a breakaway slam from Jalon Moore for the Yellow Jackets gave them an 18-16 lead.  
• A triple from Sean Houpt with 8:00 remaining in the half cut the Georgia Tech lead to one point.  
• A contested layup from Russell gave the Panthers back the lead at 25-24. 
• A 13-0 run over five minutes for the Yellow Jackets gave them a 37-25 lead. 
• Can Kaan Turgut banked in a corner jump shot at the halftime buzzer to get the Panthers back to within nine points at the break. 

SECOND HALF:   

• A 3-pointer from Russell then a steal in the backcourt from Houpt led to a layup from Niall Harris cut the Yellow Jackets lead to 43-37. 
• The Yellow Jackets rode a 9-0 scoring run to push their lead to 54-39. 
• A strong finish inside from Noble cut the Georgia Tech lead to 60-48 with 8:02 left in the game.  
• A 11-0 scoring run for Georgia Tech gave it a 73-51 advantage over the Panthers. 
• Harris scored an inside bucket to cut the lead to 20 points.  
• A breakaway dunk by Jermontae Hill in the final seconds capped off a 79-56 exhibition victory for the Yellow Jackets.  

NOTABLE PANTHERS:   

• Russell scored a team-high 17 points. He also dished out five assists.  
• Also in double-figures for the Panthers was Houpt with 10 points and eight rebounds. 
• Harris had eight points and eight rebounds. 
• Elias Martin was effective inside with eight points, five rebounds, and two blocks. 
• Noble also had eight points for the Panthers  

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:  

• The Panthers shot 35% (21-60) from the field and 17.4% (4-23) from the 3-point line. The Yellow Jackets were 47.7% (31-65) shooting and 34.8% (8-23) from behind the arc. 
• At the free throw line, Florida Tech shot 62.5% (10-16) while Georgia Tech was 81.8% (9-11). 
• On the glass, the Yellow Jackets narrowly outrebounded the Panthers 37-34. 
• Georgia Tech had a 19-5 advantage in bench points.  
• The Yellow Jackets had 40 points in the paint while the Panthers had 30. 
• Florida Tech had 16 turnovers and nine assists. Georgia Tech turned it over 12 times but dished out 20 assists.  

"First I'd like to thank Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner, who I have tremendous respect for, on giving us the opportunity to come up and play a game in the middle of their season on the big stage against an ACC opponent," said Head Coach Billy Mims. "When you combine all of that, the experience is a once in a lifetime for many of our players that they'll be able to look back on for the rest of their lives."

"I thought we came to compete, and I thought for a majority of the game we competed," Mims said. "Early in the second half, we cut it to six points and had the ball. Then a few things don't go our way, we make a few mistakes and kind of shoot ourselves in the foot and let the game open up beyond 10 into double-figures. 

"Individually I thought Sesan Russell looked like an ACC player today," Mims said. "He had 17 points today and also had a game-high five assists. Overall he had a really great game for us under the bright lights."

"Overall I was really proud of our rebounding, proud of our defensive effort, and proud of some individual things during the game," Mims said. Our guys were not scared of the moment and never quit." 

"The ACC is the best college basketball conference in America, that I grew up watching," Mims said. "For me, It was almost like a homecoming to be able to coach here, where one of my mentors, Bobby Cremins coached at."

UP NEXT: Florida Tech returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 22 for a home SSC game with Lynn. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. with Senior Night celebrations happening prior to the start of the game. 
  

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