ATHENS — Donte' Williams made a layup with 1:03 left in overtime, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rebounded Williams' missed free throw to help Georgia secure a 57-53 win against Tennessee in a hard-fought defensive battle at Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Gerald Robinson added a pair of free throws on the same possession to give the Bulldogs (10-8, 1-3) a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they recorded their first SEC win of the season.
"It just shows you our will to win," Robinson said of the fateful series of plays. "We didn't give up on the play. Statistically, you're not supposed to get the rebound between those two guys on a missed free throw. But Kentavious wanted it and he went and got it and we won the game."
Robinson, who twice had to leave the game with an injured left ankle, led the Bulldogs with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Nemanja Djurisic and Williams had 11 apiece.
Caldwell-Pope, who came in as the Bulldogs' leading scorer at 14.5 points per game, was held to 9 points and was 0-0f-8 from 3-point range. But he made key defensive plays down the stretch and finished with 6 rebounds, 4 steals and a blocked shot.
Trae Golden, a sophomore from Powder Springs, led Tennessee with 16 points. The Volunteers committed 20 tunrovers to fall to 8-10 overall and 1-3 in league play.
The teams combined to go 4-for-34 from 3-point range.
Djurisic looked as if he had made the play of the game when he blocked a shot, came away with the ball and went coast-to-coast for an underhanded layup and a 52-50 lead with 2:32 left in overtime. But only 22 seconds later, Tennessee’s Skylar McBee, who had not scored in regulation, made a 3-point shot from the left wing to get the Vols back out front 53-52.
Georgia forward Marcus Thornton returned to the court for the first time since going down with a knee injury against Furman on Dec. 23. He played 23 minutes and scored no points. But head coach Mark Fox thought his impact was substantial.
"Marcus made a huge impact for us defensively," Fox said. "He hasn't been able to play or even practice in a month and he really made some key plays for us. We didn't know he could play until yesterday when he went to the doctor, but there was zero hesitation in our decision. We needed him on defense."
Said Thornton: "I was just so happy to get out there and fight and help us get a win against a rival like Tennessee."
Georgia went up 29-24 with a fast-break layup by Caldwell-Pope to open the second half, then committed three turnovers and missed two shots on its next five possessions. Jeronne Maymon’s lay-in at the 16:27 mark gave the Vols their first lead of the game, 30-29, at the 16:22 mark.
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