Lance Terry leads Georgia Tech to blowout win over Miami

“We’re playing the right way right now,” Terry said. “We got a little roll going and just gotta keep at it.”

Terry didn’t have to do it alone Tuesday. Baye Ndongo poured in 22 and collected eight rebounds and Duncan Powell added 16. Point guard Nait George had 10 points, dished out 11 assists, grabbed seven rebounds and recorded four steals. The sophomore is averaging 6.6 assists per game this season.

Miami, the ACC’s worst team, fell to 6-24 and 2-17. It only dressed eight players and only played seven. Pace Academy graduate Matthew Cleveland had a nice homecoming by scoring 29 for the Hurricanes.

But this night was all about Terry, who eclipsed 1,300 career points spanning his time at both Tech and Gardner-Webb. After the game, during a postgame television interview, Terry’s teammates rushed back onto the floor and emptied water bottles on his head.

“They wasn’t trying to let us run out, I told ‘em, ‘Nah, this is Lance’s big day, his last home game.’ We had to get him right on TV,” Powell said.

Added Terry: “Being out here on senior night, doing what I did, just playing the way I did, it felt really good. I’ve been in college for a long time. Just having this on my senior night and then being surrounded by my teammates and the fans and everything, it’s been a blessing. I didn’t really think about anything, really, coming out here tonight. I was just trying to play how I usually play, play as hard as I can.

“I definitely took it in. It felt really special. The whole night has been a really special night. Just really thankful.”

Tech missed 11 of its first 15 shots and trailed 13-12 less than eight minutes into the contest. An Ndongo layup, however, sparked a 9-0 Tech run that ended with a long Terry 3 from the right side that forced a Miami timeout. It was a sign of things to come.

Jaeden Mustaf’s layup on the fast break upped Tech’s lead to 30-21 with 5:29 to play and another Ndongo bucket 39 seconds later made it 32-21. Then Terry took over.

Terry scored the final eight points of the half for the Jackets, starting with an alley-oop finish, catching a lob from George and slamming home a dunk with one hand. He then splashed back-to-back 3s in a span of 27 seconds to give Tech a 46-30 lead at the break.

Terry picked up right where he left off early in the second half, following a Powell 3 with two more triples of his own to give Tech a 55-33 advantage. Back-to-back layups later in the half gave Terry his career high and the Jackets a 71-50 lead.

The Hurricanes just didn’t have enough to keep up as much of the crowd of 4,765 had dissipated before the final horn. But not rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who stayed to the very end to witness Terry’s terrific performance.

“(Terry) had a great game, but he had his moment, too. A lot of times you can have a good game, but on senior night he had his moment,” Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said. “I thought at the last four minutes of the first half he made some big shots and really ignited us and that’s when we kind of took off and took over the game. Just really happy for him, he did a great job.

“Gonna miss him, the next time we play in this building, won’t have him on the team. That’s gonna be a tough one,” Stoudamire said. “Lance does it all. He plays hard, he gives you 100% effort every time he’s on the floor. Was really happy for him.”