FINAL SCORE: Georgia Tech beats Appalachian State 70-57

After having over a week's rest, the Georgia Tech basketball team came out and handled business against an Appalachian State team that knows how to pull off upsets.

Georgia Tech came out a little rusty after their layoff, and they found themselves down 11-6 early in the game. They went on a quick run to overcome that deficit and never looked back again as they led the rest of the way and finished with a 70-57 win to improve to 7-2 on the season.

The emphasis on offense was once again to take shots close to the basket and try to get to the free throw line. The problem this year has been that the Jackets haven't capitalized those free throw attempts. Tonight wasn't a whole lot better. They were only 62% from the stripe but got there 29 times to make 18 of them.

On the other hand, Appalachian State settled for jump shots most of the game, and they were only able to attempt eight free throws - which were all makes. The size for Tech is the reason quite a few teams have been unable to get to the paint this season. Demarco Cox and Charles Mitchell have been great down low, and Robert Sampson has really been coming on strong as of late.

Sampson scored ten points, had eight rebounds, and contributed three assists, one steal, and one block for the Jackets. His presence off of the bench has been huge, and he is my vote for player of the game.

Marcus Georges-Hunt, Demarco Cox, and Tadric Jackson were the other three Jackets to finish the night in double figures.

It was an overall mediocre performance for Georgia Tech. Appalachian State isn't a very good team, and they are very undersized, yet they were able to hang around for most of the game. With conference play coming up, the Jackets need to improve three main things in my opinion - three-point shooting, free throw shooting, and assists-to-turnover ratio.

The basketball team will be back in action on Dec. 20th against Vanderbilt at home.