SOUTH BEND, IND. – In a game attempt to pull off a considerable upset, Georgia Tech fell short by the smallest of margins.
In their ACC opener, the Yellow Jackets led for nearly all of the first 30 minutes but succumbed to No. 14 Notre Dame by an 83-76 score in double overtime Saturday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion.
The Jackets (9-4 overall, 0-1 ACC) came out of the gate hot, taking a 13-2 lead less than three minutes into the game. Hitting the glass hard, the Jackets continued to hold off Notre Dame (14-1, 2-0) through the first half, going into halftime up 31-27. Tech held a 17-14 rebounding advantage, and notably did not allow a single Notre Dame offensive rebound.
However, Tech scored only four points on five offensive rebounds in the first half and missed a number of open shots, when the Jackets controlled play, failing to push their advantage. In the second half, Notre Dame, which leads the country in field-goal percentage, played its typically efficient offense and turned up its defensive pressure. The Fighting Irish took the lead with a 14-6 run that gave them a 56-52 lead with 4:25 to play.
However, Tech rallied with a tip-in by Charles Mitchell, a 3-pointer by Chris Bolden and a drive by Marcus Georges-Hunt to force overtime.
Tech had a chance to win the game in the final 19.4 seconds of regulation, after Mitchell secured Jerian Grant’s missed free throw with the score tied 59. On Tech’s final possession of regulation, Georges-Hunt was unable to get up a shot, forcing overtime.
In overtime, the Irish started the period on an 8-2 run, but Tech forced a second overtime when Cox tipped in a miss by Georges-Hunt with 10 seconds left in the period.
In the second overtime, Notre Dame opened with a 9-2 run to finally seize the game.
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