ATLANTA -- With his very first shot of the game, Clarence Jackson cut to the basket and tried a wild one-handed toss that glanced off the side of the backboard, an attempt that drew the ire of his coach. "But after that, he took 23 good shots," Fran McCaffery said. Didn't matter much. The results never got a whole lot better for the junior guard or the rest of the Siena men's basketball team, which misfired just about every which way in a 74-61 road loss to Georgia Tech. Not helping matters, Siena played without senior wing Edwin Ubiles, whose balky knee left him sitting on the bench wearing a suit. He's day-to-day, so Siena isn't assured of getting him back for Saturday's game against the University at Albany, either. Still, the Saints were granted every opportunity to beat former coach Paul Hewitt and bolster their postseason resume with a road win over an Atlantic Coast Conference school. Instead, they missed what seemed like a season's worth of layups and open 3s. "We fought hard," McCaffery said. "But we didn't play well enough to win -- not against this caliber of a team." Jackson paced Siena with 19 points, but he shot just 6-for-24 from the field and 3-for-14 from 3-point range. Trying to take advantage of a Georgia Tech team that played way off shooters, the Saints fired a whopping 28 tries from 3 but made only four. "We knew we'd be able to get open looks at it, but we just weren't making them," Jackson said. The Saints shot a season-low 31.9 percent. Sophomore forward Owen Wignot, who started in place of Ubiles, was typical of Siena's game -- he hustled for three blocks and scored seven points but missed all six of his 3-pointers. "Coach said we were going to get open shots," Wignot said. "We just couldn't hit them." Defensively, the Saints emphasized keeping the ball away from Georgia Tech forwards Derrick Favors, one of the top freshmen in the country, and Gani Lawal, an NBA prospect. That left freshman guard Mfon Udofia often open; he took advantage by leading all scorers with 26 pints. Favors and Lawal contributed their share, too. Favors scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Lawal totaled 15 points and nine boards. Combined, they shot 12-for-16, with several of those easy buckets in transition. "They were pressing us the whole game, and we did a good job attacking the press," Siena point guard Ronald Moore said. "But we were missing. And they were running back at us off our misses and getting open layups." Despite all that, the Saints were in the game until the final five minutes. Siena missed a big chance late in the first half. Down 29-28, Siena held Georgia Tech without a field goal for almost four minutes -- but couldn't hit one of its own, either. Udofia beat the halftime buzzer with a 3, and the Saints went to intermission down, 32-28. Georgia Tech began to pull away with about eight minutes left. In one sequence, the Saints failed to secure the rebound off a Yellow Jackets missed free throw on back-to-back possessions. A five-point deficit became nine, which was too big, too late. "I thought in the second half we played with a lot more energy," Hewitt said. Hewitt, who coached at Siena from 1997-2000, said he still roots for his former team, which he again will play next year at Times Union Center. "Obvioulsy when we go up there next year it will be a little bit more emotional for me," Hewitt said. "I'm very familiar with them, and I watch them on TV whenever they're on. They have a nice team." Pete Iorizzo can be reached at 454-5425 or by e-mail at piorizzo@timesunion.com Georgia TECH 74, Siena 61 Siena (4-3) Player Min FG FT R A Pts Rossiter 31 2-8 2-2 7 0 6 Wignot 24 2-8 3-4 3 1 7 Franklin 33 3-8 2-4 8 1 8 Jackson 32 6-24 4-4 4 2 19 Moore 38 1-6 1-3 4 9 3 Anosike 19 3-4 1-2 3 0 7 Yard 3 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 Downey 16 4-10 0-0 3 1 9 Breeden 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 2 Priestley 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 TEAM - - - 5 - - Totals - 22-69 13-19 39 14 61 Georgia TECH (5-1) Player Min FG FT R A Pts Favors 26 6-8 4-6 8 1 16 Lawal 26 6-8 3-6 9 0 15 Udofia 32 9-16 3-3 7 3 26 Shumpert 27 2-7 0-0 4 7 5 Bell 26 1-5 0-0 2 0 2 Miller 15 0-4 2-2 3 2 2 Foreman 7 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Oliver 8 1-3 0-0 2 2 3 Sheehan 8 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 Peacock 19 1-2 0-0 7 0 2 Rice 6 1-3 1-1 0 0 3 TEAM - - - 3 - - Totals - 27-57 13-18 45 17 74 Halftime--Georgia Tech, 32-28. 3-point goals--Siena 4-28 (Wignot 0-6, Jackson 3-14, Moore 0-3, Downey 1-5), Georgia Tech 7-17 (Favors 0-1, Udofia 5-8, Shumpert 1-3, Bell 0-1, Miller 0-2, Oliver 1-1, Rice 0-1). Fouled out--Siena (Wignot); Georgia Tech (Shumpert). Blocked shots--Siena 5 (Wignot 3, Franklin, Anosike), Georgia Tech 5 (Favors 2, Lawal 2, Sheehan). Turnovers--Siena 11 (Rossiter, Wignot, Franklin 4, Jackson 2, Yard 2, Downey), Georgia Tech 20 (Favors 4, Lawal, Udofia 5, Shumpert 4, Bell 2, Miller 2, Peacock, Rice). Steals--Siena 14 (Rossiter 4, Wignot 2, Franklin, Jackson 2, Moore 4, Downey), Georgia Tech 5 (Lawal 2, Udofia, Shumpert, Miller). Technical fouls--None. A--6,898. PULLOUT: Georgia Tech 74 Siena 61 TIP: On the Web For an update on how fast tickets are selling for the Siena-UAlbany game, go to http://blog.timesunion.com/collegesports.