Lapse haunts Georgia Tech again in loss to Clemson

As has so often been the case, the opportunity lay before Georgia Tech.

Late Thursday night, it was a nine-point lead with 7:51 remaining in its second-round ACC tournament game against Clemson. If the No. 11-seed Yellow Jackets could have hung on against the No. 6-seed Tigers, they would have scored the biggest upset by seed of the tournament to that point and earned a quarterfinal appointment with Duke on Friday night.

Instead, the Jackets met a familiar fate — an offensive dry spell and defensive lapses leading to a “woulda, coulda, shoulda” loss. This time, it took the form of a 69-65 overtime loss to Clemson (20-11), the third loss to the Tigers this season and the 10th consecutive, dating to 2010.

“Unfortunately, you’ve got to figure out a way to make a play or two down the stretch to win the game or make a couple more free throws,” coach Brian Gregory said. “A rebound here or a free throw here. That’s the difference.”

Tech (16-17) took a 49-40 lead with the efficient offense it has been capable of, particularly with the improving health of forward Robert Carter and guard Trae Golden. When forward Marcus Georges-Hunt scrambled in from the perimeter to scoop up a rebound and put it back in, the Jackets had scored 20 points in their first 15 possessions of the half.

The ball was moving and shots were falling. And then, into the abyss.

Over the next nearly seven minutes, a stretch of 10 possessions, Tech scored two points, missing all seven of its field-goal attempts, making two of five free throws and not extending any possessions with an offensive rebound while giving up three offensive rebounds to the Tigers and four second-chance points. The score flipped from 49-40 in Tech’s favor to 55-51 in Clemson’s with 1:27 left in regulation.

The Jackets recovered in the final minute when Golden scored on a drive with 55.8 seconds remaining to close to 55-53 and then center Daniel Miller sent the game to overtime on the next possession by grabbing Golden’s miss and swishing a jumper with eight-tenths of a second remaining as he fell to the floor.

The circumstances of overtime — Miller missed a wide-open dunk that could have extended the lead to four midway through the period, and guard Corey Heyward was called for a questionable offensive foul when Tech had the ball in the final 30 seconds down 63-62 — led to the final conclusion. But the extra time was entirely avoidable.

“It wasn’t the (missed) dunk (that cost the game) because it was plays that led up to where we shouldn’t have even been in overtime,” Golden said. “It’s not the dunk. It’s not Dan.”

Squandered in the loss was forward Kammeon Holsey’s relentless effort that produced 10 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes, following a similarly strong performance in the overtime win over Boston College on Wednesday night.

Miller, named third-team All-ACC earlier in the week, had a quiet two games in Greensboro. Miller made the clutch game-tying basket, but scored only nine points in the two games. He was at a loss to explain the missed dunk, surmising that he took his eyes off the rim to watch Clemson center Landry Nnoko.