Storm The Court: No. 20 Georgia Tech Tops No. 5 Duke, 71-67

Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Gani Lawal ended with 21 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 20 Georgia Tech over fifth-ranked Duke, 71-67, for its first conference victory of the season.

Mfon Udofia sank three three-pointers and ended with 13 points for the Yellow Jackets (12-3, 1-1 ACC), who were coming off a loss at Georgia on Tuesday. But Georgia Tech rebounded Saturday to beat a Duke program that had won 11 of the 12 meetings at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

“Gani Lawal has done an unbelievable job being a great leader for these guys,” Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt said. “He gets them fired up before the games. You see him get 21 points and nine rebounds, but he does a lot behind the scenes to get these guys pumped up. I give him a lot of credit for the energy level the guys played with today.”

Zachery Peacock added 11 points for the Jackets, who had lost in overtime to Florida State on December 20 in their ACC opener.

Jon Scheyer had 25 points but shot just 3-of-13 from three-point range, as the Blue Devils (13-2, 1-1) had their seven-game winning streak broken. Mason Plumlee added 10 points in the loss.

“I don’t know if they wore us down, but they got us out of rhythm,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “We can’t only rely on Scheyer to score. It set up for us to score from other places, and we didn’t score from other places.”

Both teams held small leads for most of a close second half, and with 2:55 to play, two free throws by Kyle Singler evened the game, 60-60. After a number of missed shots by both teams, Peacock got a layup to fall.

Singler then missed a three, and at the other end, Lawal banked in a turnaround jumper to make it a 64-60 Georgia Tech edge with 1:01 on the clock. The outcome looked grim for the Blue Devils after Singler missed another three, but Duke pressured and Miles Plumlee came away with the steal for a dunk with 35.4 seconds on the clock.

It then became a free throw shooting contest for Georgia Tech, and two from Iman Shumpert with 12.8 left set the score at 69-64. Scheyer countered with a quick three to get the Blue Devils within two, but Udofia sank both his attempts to return it to a two-possession game, essentially sealing the win.

Duke raced out to a 12-3 lead, but the Yellow Jackets scored the next eight points, capped by a Lawal dunk. The teams traded the lead several times in the half, though a Brian Zoubek layup with 1:07 left ended a five-point Duke burst for a 32-25 edge, and the Blue Devils were up 35-29 at the break.

Duke continued to play in front to start the second half, though it didn’t lead by more than two possessions. A Lawal jumper with just under 13 minutes to play put Georgia Tech ahead 44-43, and it was tight the rest of the way.

Duke shot 6-of-28 from three-point range overall and got to the foul line for only 14 attempts (making nine)...Georgia Tech sank 22-of-28 free throws...Georgia Tech snapped a four-game losing streak in the series, which Duke still leads, 61-23. The Blue Devils had also won 24-of-26 overall entering Saturday’s game.