NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT / SOUTHEAST AND MIDWEST REGIONALS : Georgia Tech Sends Jackson to NBA Early : Southeast Regional: Yellow Jackets hold off LSU to reach final 16. Tigers’ sophomore star says he’s turning pro.

The Baton Rouge applicant for NBA admission, otherwise known as the Louisiana State varsity, got lost in Knoxville Saturday night, so sophomore guard Chris Jackson has decided to go it alone.

Jackson, the brightest star in LSU’s glittering galaxy, confirmed the much-rumored suspicion that he would turn pro this year, just as soon as Georgia Tech ended his amateur status with a 94-91 victory over the Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Southeast Regionals.

Coach Dale Brown’s gag order on the topic, issued after a wire service broke the story earlier this week, was lifted long enough for Jackson to utter a three-sentence statement.

“There has been speculation about my entering the NBA draft,” Jackson said during LSU’s postgame news conference. “I have decided to go into the 1990 draft. I just feel it is time for me to move on.”

Before the season, the Tigers appeared a lock for one of two possible destinations--Denver, or the NBA Central Division. Besides Jackson, who averaged 28.3 points this year, LSU had the Teen Towers--7-1 freshman Shaquille O’Neal and 7-0 sophomore Stanley Roberts--to go along with slick sophomore forward Vernel Singleton and freshman guard Maurice Williamson, a former prep All-American.

LSU was picked No. 1 in at least one preseason poll. But the Tigers (23-9) didn’t even win the Southeastern Conference, finishing in a second-place tie with Alabama behind champion Georgia.

Brown was assailed for not getting what he could out of this embarrassment of riches, a criticism that won’t be dismissed after Saturday night, when LSU built leads of 17-3 and 24-8 and couldn’t hold them.

O’Neal and Roberts were monstrous in the first half. By intermission, O’Neal had 15 points, seven rebounds and blocked three shots; Roberts had eight points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

But Georgia Tech (26-6) waited for the young Tigers to make mistakes, which usually occurs. Eventually, the Yellow Jacket offense awakened, which also usually happens.

Forward Dennis Scott, four of 17 from the field in the first half, hit four three-point shots in the second half and finished with 30 points (on 10-of-32 shooting). Freshman guard Kenny Anderson, four of seven in the first half, rallied to finish with 26 points, including the game-winner with 1:35 left.

Georgia Tech moves on to New Orleans and the round of 16, where the Yellow Jackets will face Michigan State Friday. LSU, meanwhile, returns to Baton Rouge.

So close and yet so far.

“It’s a disappointment,” Brown said. “But on this night of Saturday, March 17, we’re rededicating ourselves to the purpose of getting ready for next year.”

Minus one All-American point guard.