Kihei Clark led a mid-game flurry on his way to collecting 15 points, eight assists and three steals, leading No. 13 Virginia to a 74-56 Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Georgia Tech on Saturday in Atlanta.
Jayden Gardner added 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Armaan Franklin produced 11 points, five steals and four assists as Virginia (10-2, 2-1 ACC) beat Georgia Tech for the 10th straight time.
It was the third conference loss by double-digit margins for Georgia Tech (7-6, 0-3), which committed 23 turnovers and was outscored 30-17 on points off miscues.
The Yellow Jackets entered the game averaging 10.1 turnovers per game, the 11th-highest figure in the nation.
Miles Kelly led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points. Ja’von Franklin contributed 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets trailed 27-25 late in the first half, but the Cavaliers went on a 25-0 run which bridged intermission. During the spree, the Yellow Jackets had more turnovers (eight) than field goal attempts (seven).
Virginia welcomed junior Reece Beekman back to the starting lineup after he missed the first game of his career with a hamstring injury. Beekman had eight points, four assists and four rebounds.
Virginia shot 47.4 percent overall and made 10 of 22 from beyond the arc (45.5 percent), led by Isaac McKneely’s 3-of-5 performance from deep.
In the final two minutes of the first half, Virginia scored nine straight points in a run fueled by Clark.
The senior guard started it with a steal and feed to Franklin for a trey. Then Clark hit a corner 3 and followed with a pass to McKneely for another 3 with two seconds left that gave the Cavaliers a 36-25 edge at the break.
Then at the start of the second half, Virginia scored 16 straight in a run started by Kadin Shedrick (11 points) with a three-point play off a tip-in and finished by the junior with two free throws.
In between, McKneely and Beekman added 3-pointers and Gardner scored six straight during the sprint which put Virginia up 52-25 with 14:41 left.
– Field Level Media