Baye Ndongo drained a baseline runner at the buzzer and Georgia Tech pulled out a 70-69 victory against host Wake Forest after squandering a 19-point lead Tuesday night at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Miles Kelly pumped in 19 points, Naithan George had 16 points and Tafara Gapare posted 11 points for Georgia Tech (14-16, 7-12 Atlantic Coast Conference), which has won three in a row. Ndongo had nine points and 11 rebounds.
Wake Forest took its only lead of the game on Hunter Sallis’ short jumper with 18.8 seconds to play, but after a Wake Forest timeout the Yellow Jackets converted on the final shot to avenge a 29-point home loss from Feb. 6.
Sallis finished with 22 points, Cameron Hildreth racked up 17 points, Kevin Miller had 12 and Efton Reid III notched 11. Reid’s steal helped set up Sallis’ go-ahead basket, but the Demon Deacons (18-12, 10-9) lost their third game in a row since upsetting then-No. 8 Duke.
While Georgia Tech has lingered around the bottom of the ACC standings, it has defeated five of the top seven teams in the league.
Kelly scored for a 68-60 lead that the Yellow Jackets carried into the final two minutes before getting outscored 9-0 until the last shot.
Wake Forest had rallied, with 7-footer Reid’s sixth 3-point basket of the season accounting for the first three of nine consecutive points for the Demon Deacons. Miller had a basket and missed a free throw, but he sank two foul shots with 36.9 seconds left.
Earlier, Hildreth had three-point plays on two of three possessions as the Demon Deacons closed to within 48-44. The gap was trimmed to 52-51 with more than nine minutes to play before Georgia Tech seemed to regain control.
Even with Wake Forest’s second-half charge, there were missed opportunities in transition that continued to hinder the effort.
Georgia Tech broke out to a 26-7 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. The lead dipped in a hurry, but the Yellow Jackets got cranked up again late in the first half for a 40-26 advantage at the break. Georgia Tech was 8 of 14 on first-half 3-pointers, with Kelly hitting all four of his long-range attempts.
–Field Level Media