Kelly scores 25, Georgia Tech beats Georgia Southern 84-62 in Damon Stoudamire's debut

ATLANTA -- — Miles Kelly hit four 3-pointers and finished with 25 points and Damon Stoudamire got a win in his debut as coach at Georgia Tech as the Yellow Jackets beat Georgia Southern 84-62 Monday night in the season opener for both teams.

Kelly scored 15 of his 19 second-half points in the final 8-plus minutes to help Georgia Tech pull away. Cam Bryant made a jumper that trimmed the Eagles' deficit to 52-50 with 10 minutes to play but Kyle Sturdivant, Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman — who finished with 17 points — and Kelly each hit a 3-pointer before Coleman threw down a dunk that made it an 11-point game about 4 minutes later. Kelly scored 11 points from there as Georgia Tech pulled away.

Coleman finished with 17 points, Kowacie Reeves scored 15 and Tyzhaun Claude added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Georgia Tech.

Jamar Franklin lead Georgia Southern with 17 points and Tyren Moore scored 10.

The 49-year-old Stoudamire replaced Josh Pastner who was fired at the end of last season, when the Yellow Jackets went 15-18. The No. 7 pick in the 1995 NBA out of Arizona, Stoudemire went 71-77 over five seasons as the head coach at Pacific before spending the last two seasons as an assistant for the Boston Celtics.

------ Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here ------ AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball