After a rough weekend in New York, Georgia Tech claimed a hard-earned win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Tuesday night.
Down 12 points with less than seven minutes to go, the Yellow Jackets rallied to hand Illinois its first defeat of the season with a 67-64 win at McCamish Pavilion.
Tech had taken its share of lumps thus far in the nonconference portion of the schedule, losing two games at the Barclays Center Classic in New York over Thanksgiving weekend on top of a home loss to Dayton.
Tech (6-3) appeared headed for a third consecutive loss and second home loss of the season before its furious rally in the final 6:22. In that span, the Jackets overcame Illinois’ 60-48 lead by scoring 19 of the final 23 points of the game. After forcing a turnover on defense, center Daniel Miller’s lay-in with 24 seconds remaining gave the Jackets their first lead since early in the second half, at 65-64.
Forward Robert Carter rebounded an errant 3-point attempt in the final seconds by Joseph Bertrand, then made both free throws after getting fouled to secure the win. Carter scored seven of the final 19 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:01 to play that cut the lead to 64-63.
Both for the manner of victory and quality of opponent, it ranks among coach Brian Gregory’s most significant wins in his three-year tenure. The Illini (7-1) were an NCAA tournament team last season, were undefeated and entered the game ranked No. 18 in RPI in the country.
The win also ended Tech’s five-game losing streak in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, a streak that included a 75-62 road loss to the same Illini last December.
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