A familiar flaw did in Georgia Tech again.
Leading by 11 points at the 15-minute mark, the Yellow Jackets’ offense seized up and gave N.C. State the opportunity to come back and win 80-78 in overtime Sunday at PNC Arena.
Tech (11-9 overall, 2-5 ACC) lost an opportunity for its second ACC road win in a row. N.C. State (13-7, 3-4) won with a defensive effort that limited the Yellow Jackets to six baskets over the final 12 1/2 minutes of regulation.
In the final seconds of both regulation and overtime, Tech had chances to pull out the victory but missed with 3-point tries, Trae Golden in regulation and Chris Bolden in overtime.
Tech took its largest lead of the game at 52-41 a little more than four minutes into the second half before N.C. State rallied. The Wolfpack gave Tech problems with its zone defense and continued its hot shooting to put together a rally. The Wolfpack caught the Jackets with 7:11 to go on a Desmond Lee drive.
From that point forward, neither team led by more than five points.
Tech was able to stay in the game with a relentless effort on the glass by Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey, who had a combined 22 rebounds, 15 after halftime. The Jackets had 13 second-chance points in the second half and overtime. It counteracted unusually weak defense, as N.C. State shot 53.3 percent from the field for the game.
Scoring droughts have become something of an albatross for the Jackets. Tech nearly lost all but one point of an 18-point second-half lead at Boston College Tuesday night before pulling out the win behind two big baskets from Golden. The Jackets also lost the handle on double-digit leads against St. John’s, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, coming back to win against the Fighting Irish.
Sunday, Tech took a 40-35 lead into halftime. A 13-2 run midway through the half lifted the Jackets from a 21-15 deficit to a 28-23 lead. Forward Quinton Stephens gave a big contribution off the bench with 11 points, making five of his first six field-goal attemptsc.
The Jackets shot 13-for-26 in the half, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range. They were outdone by N.C. State, which shot 53.6 percent from the field in the half, but Tech went to the line 14 times to seven times for N.C. State.
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