Kyle Sturdivant scored a team-high 17 points off the bench, helping Georgia Tech grab a 65-60 win over Syracuse on Saturday in Atlanta.
Baye Ndongo added 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets (11-15, 4-11 Atlantic Coast Conference), while Miles Kelly had 16 points and 10 boards. Tafara Gapare tallied 10 points for Georgia Tech, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Syracuse (16-10, 7-8) fell to 1-6 on the road in conference play. The Orange were led by J.J. Starling’s 18 points, followed by Judah Mintz’s 14.
After Georgia Tech claimed a 34-30 halftime lead, Sturdivant’s triple gave the Yellow Jackets a 48-38 advantage with 11:57 left in the game.
A 14-4 Syracuse run was then stamped with Kyle Cuffe Jr.’s layup, knotting the score at 52 at the 6:21 mark.
Ndongo’s turnaround jumper on the ensuing possession briefly gave the Yellow Jackets a 54-52 lead, but Chris Bell answered with a 3-pointer, giving the Orange their first lead since there was just under seven minutes left in the opening half.
With the score tied, Ndongo’s layup gave Georgia Tech a 59-57 advantage with 3:16 left. At the 2:11 mark, Cuffe split a pair of free throws, cutting Syracuse’s deficit to just one.
After neither team had scored in almost two minutes, Kelly completed a three-point play to give Georgia Tech a 62-58 edge with 31 seconds left.
Mintz’s two free throws cut the lead in half with 26 seconds remaining. Sturdivant then split a pair of foul shots, but Kelly grabbed the offensive rebound on the miss and was fouled. He made both ensuing free throws to cement the five-point victory.
The game began with a 9-2 Syracuse run, which included back-to-back Starling triples.
Georgia Tech answered with a 15-7 burst, taking its first lead on Kelly’s 3-pointer at the 10:34 mark of the first half.
From there, the Yellow Jackets took a 32-23 lead — their largest advantage of the first half — on another Kelly triple, this one capping a 13-2 Georgia Tech run with 3:02 left.
The Orange closed the first half on a 7-2 run to trail by four at intermission.
Starling paced Syracuse with 10 points through the first 20 minutes of action. Kelly had nine for the hosts.
–Field Level Media