ATLANTA, GA – Sparked by its senior class, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets rallied from 9 points down in its final game of the regular season to defeat the Pittsburgh Panthers, 63-59. The Senior Day victory at McCamish Pavilion makes the Jackets winners of 5 of their last 6 and one of the ACC’s hottest teams heading into the ACC tournament.

“This team has unbelievable resiliency, unbelievable resolve, they’re tough, [and] are obviously playing extremely well right now,” said Head Coach Brian Gregory.

In all the Jackets’ seniors scored 59 of the teams’ 63 points, led by the trio of Adam Smith (23), Nick Jacobs (19), and Marcus Georges-Hunt (10).

Tech’s two other seniors, Charles Mitchell and James White, contributed primarily on the defensive end. Mitchell pulled down 11 rebounds while White added 3 rebounds and 2 blocks of his own in 12 minutes.

In familiar form Gregory gave all credit to the players.

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SYRACUSE, NY – With 5:05 to go and the Yellow Jackets holding a 53-49 lead, the Syracuse Orange took a timeout to regroup. Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim decided the Orange needed to go smaller despite his center, DaJuan Coleman, already out of the game with 5 fouls. Out went power forward Tyler Roberson and in came small forward Malachi Richardson.

The decision proved fruitful.

On the first Orange possession following the timeout, Richardson connected on a three-pointer from the right wing to cut the Tech lead to 1. The three points kick-started an 11-4 game closing run for the Orange. During the run Richardson scored 8 of his 13 total points, and the Orange emerged victorious by a final score of 60-57 in front of 25,235 fans.

The Jackets put themselves in position to win late through an inside-out strategy. Three of the four leading shot-takers were Yellow Jackets’ big men – Nick Jacobs with 15 attempts, Ben Lammers with 8, and Charles Mitchell with 6. Despite those shots coming primarily in the paint, the three big men converted just 12 of their 29 attempts.

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RALEIGH, NC – The second half started to look familiar. A 14-point Yellow Jackets halftime lead evaporated to just one in the blink of an eye. The Wolfpack had full momentum after an Abdul-Malik Abu dunk with 11:19 to go.

Also in familiar form, Tech looked to Marcus Georges-Hunt to make a play. He delivered, knifing his way to the basket to convert an old fashioned 3-point play at the rim. A technical foul by N.C. State allowed for two additional free throws and just like that the Jackets were back on top by 6.

This time, unlike the Jackets’ prior two games where halftime leads of 7 and 10 were all for naught, Tech closed the door and added a second tick mark to their ACC win total.

“It’s hard to win on the road in this league. It’s a monster,” said Head Coach Brian Gregory after the team’s first ACC road win this year.

Marcus Georges-Hunt led the way for the Yellow Jackets, scoring 14 of his team high 26 points after the under-12 minute media timeout in the second half. Adam Smith and Nick Jacobs helped carry the load offensively with 20 points apiece for the game.

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