Joseph Girard III scored a game-high 28 points and Maliq Brown added 18 to lead Syracuse to an 80-63 victory over host Georgia Tech in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday at Atlanta.
Girard, who scored 18 first-half points, finished 11 of 21 from the field, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range, to go along with five rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Brown hit 8 of 9 from the floor and added four rebounds. Jesse Edwards finished with 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Orange (13-7, 6-3) shot 31 of 56 (54.4 percent) from the field, including 6 of 14 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range. Syracuse, which has won three of its past four games, outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 33-27.
Georgia Tech (8-11, 1-8) has dropped five straight. The Yellow Jackets were led by Dallan “Deebo” Coleman, who went 6 of 9 from the field, including 5 of 8 from distance, to finish with 17 points.
Miles Kelly chipped in 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Jalon Moore finished with 11 points and a team-high five rebounds for Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets shot 25 of 58 (43.1 percent) from the field, including 10 of 31 (32.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
After Syracuse took a 52-39 lead on Edwards’ dunk with 13:12 remaining, the Yellow Jackets countered with a 15-7 run to pull to within 59-54 following Kelly’s 3-pointer with nine minutes left.
But that’s as close as the Yellow Jackets would get. The Orange responded by scoring 10 of the next 13 points to push their advantage to 69-57 with 5:02 to play.
Trailing 25-16 after Kelly’s dunk, Syracuse closed the half on a 24-8 run, during which Girard scored 13 points and Judah Mintz had five, to take a 40-33 halftime advantage.
Girard scored 18 points and Mintz added seven in the first 20 minutes for Syracuse, which shot 14 of 27 (51.9 percent) from the field before the break, including 4 of 7 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Georgia Tech was led by Coleman’s 11 first-half points, while Kelly and Moore added seven apiece.
The Yellow Jackets shot 14 of 26 (53.8 percent) from the field prior to halftime, including 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) from distance.
–Field Level Media
