Thanks to a dominating first-half run and 16 points from Deivon Smith, Georgia Tech defeated Clemson 69-64 on Saturday at Atlanta.
Clemson (12-9, 4-6 ACC) took an early 8-2 lead, but Georgia Tech (9-12, 2-8) responded with 24 of the next 26 points in a stretch of play that included nine Clemson turnovers in just over 10 minutes.
Bench points fueled the Yellow Jackets, with two of their top three scorers coming via the second unit. In addition to Smith’s 16 points, Miles Kelly hit three 3-pointers off the bench and scored 10 points.
Jordan Usher was the lone Georgia Tech starter in double figures with 14 points. Georgia Tech’s bench accounted for more than half of the team’s total points with 37.
Clemson, on the other hand, only received nine bench points, but two of its core contributors stepped up on offense to keep the contest competitive.
Leading scorer PJ Hall once again had a big day with 18 points, and Al-Amir Dawes added 18 of his own. Naz Bohannon joined Hall to each grab a team-leading eight rebounds for Clemson. Smith had eight rebounds for Georgia Tech.
The Tigers turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 23 Georgia Tech points. Of those 23 points, 16 of them were fastbreak points in transition off live ball turnovers.
Georgia Tech built an early 16-point lead with 6:32 remaining in the first half thanks to its big early run, and maintained the double-digit advantage for the rest of the first half with a 33-20 lead at the break.
Clemson trimmed the deficit as low as three points at 67-64 with under 20 seconds remaining on a pair of David Collins free throws, but Kyle Sturdivant knocked down a free throw to extend the lead back to two possessions before Hall missed a 3-pointer on the other end to seal Clemson’s fate.
The two teams will play a rematch at Clemson on Mar. 2.
–Field Level Media
