Georgia opens season with 79-54 win over Bryant

Yante Maten finished with a double-double as Georgia opened the season with a 79-54 win over Bryant.

Georgia quickly jumped out to an 11-2 lead behind Yante Maten and Turtle Jackson and never really looked back. Tyree Crump came off the bench and nailed a couple of three-pointers to help push the lead to 24-13 with 7:47 remaining. The Bulldogs closed the half with a 16-4 run to take a 40-17 advantage into the break.

Georgia shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and were 5-for-12 from three-point range. They did an excellent job defensively clamping down on Bryant’s transition game holding them to just 6-of-34 shooting over the first 20 minutes.

The Bulldogs went right back to work after halftime opening the half with a 10-0 run to push the lead to 33 at 50-17. The Bulldogs extended the lead to as many as 35 allowing Mark Fox to go deep into the bench as they cruised home for the blowout win.

Maten did a little bit of everything finishing with 21 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and two assists in 23 minutes. He was 7-of-11 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

Rayshaun Hammonds had himself a nice game as well finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds while going 7-of-9 from the field. Jackson chipped in 11 points while Crump finished with eight.

As expected, Georgia’s frontcourt dominated the paint. The Bulldogs racked up a 59-35 rebounding advantage and blocked 10 shots. Freshman Nicolas Claxton contributed six points, eight rebounds and three blocks in just 14 minutes. Georgia shot 43.3 percent from the field and held Bryant to 25.8 percent for the game. Twelve different Bulldogs scored.

If there was anything to complain about it would be the free throw shooting. Maten was 6-for-6 but the rest of the team was a combined 13-of-27. That is an area that will need to improve as the competition gets tougher.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Tuesday when they host USC-Upstate.