Virginia Tech heats up, tops Georgia Tech
ATLANTA -- Virginia Tech's Erick Green, the nation's leading scorer, got hot in the second half, while Georgia Tech's offense went ice cold.
Green finished with 28 points, 20 coming in the second half and overtime, lifting the Hokies to a much-needed 70-65 comeback victory Saturday at McCamish Pavillion.
Virginia Tech (10-6, 1-2 ACC) scored the first seven points of overtime, highlighted by a Jarell Eddie corner 3-pointer and a floater in the lane from Green to snap a four-game losing streak.
"For us to come on the road and get this win to reward ourselves for this hard work is tremendous for this young ground and our confidence," said first-year Virginia Tech coach James Johnson, whose team trailed by double digits seven minutes into the second half.
"You have two teams here today fighting and trying not to go 0-3 in this tough league. It's big and winning is hard in the ACC on the road."
Mfon Udofia and Chris Bolden hit 3-pointers in overtime to keep the Yellow Jackets alive, but Virginia Tech made four free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal its first conference win of the season.
It's a painful loss for the Yellow Jackets, who, with games at Duke and North Carolina up next, are in danger of starting ACC play at 0-5.
"This was one we expected to win," said Udofia. "And we didn't. It's tough."
The Yellow Jackets (10-5, 0-3), who led by 11 with 13 minutes to play, went without a field goal for the final 7:26 of regulation.
"We're going to have stretches where we struggle offensively," said Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory. "So with that you've got to turn it around on the other end and do a great job defensively. I feel like we did that in the first half. But in the second half we just didn't as good a job."
Georgia Tech led the entire second half, until Green hit both ends of a one-and-one to tie the score, 55-55, with 25 seconds to play.
On the Yellow Jackets' final possession of regulation, Udofia used a pick to get to the left wing, but misfired on a 3-point attempt, sending the game into overtime.
After Georgia Tech threatened to pull away early in the second half, Green scored eight straight points to keep the Hokies in the game. It was the senior star's 19th consecutive game in double figures and 48th of his last 49.
"I don't tell him to take over or be aggressive," Johnson said of Green. "He knows what this team needs. He kind of took it over. He does that in games. He knows that I'm fine with that and that the team is fine with that. He did a great job stepping up when we were down."
Robert Carter Jr.'s banked 3-pointer sent the Yellow Jackets into the locker room with a 25-22 lead, after a back-and-forth first half that featured four lead changes and porous shooting.
Virginia Tech missed all seven of its 3-point attempts and shot 26.9 percent overall from the field in the first half.
Georgia Tech's offense wasn't much better against a Virginia Tech scoring defense ranked last in the ACC. The Jackets struggled to get good looks against the Hokies' man-to-man and zone defenses and needed a last-second banked 3-pointer from Carter to take a 25-22 lead into intermission.
Carter led the Yellow Jackets with 11 points, and Marcus Georges-Hunt and Udofia finished with 10.
C.J. Barksdale had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Hokies, and Robert Brown came off the bench to add 10 points, including four in overtime. Brown had missed the Hokies' previous game with a high fever, but was able to give Virginia Tech a spark.
Notes: Virginia Tech freshman forward Marshall Wood (foot) missed his sixth straight game. ... Six different players have led Georgia Tech in scoring this season. ... A win would have given the Jackets their 11th victory of the season, matching their win total from last season. ... Virginia Tech leads the series 14-4. ... Georgia Tech center Daniel Miller, the ACC's leading active shot-blocker, had three blocks. ... The Hokies out-rebounded Georgia Tech 43-32.
