Louisville comes back to defeat Tech in mens hoops

ATLANTA, Ga. - Not even a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play was enough for Georgia Tech to pull off a major upset on Monday.

Terry Rozier scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, including the go-ahead bucket with 20 seconds to play as Associated Press No. 17 Louisville snuck out of McCamish Pavilion with a 52-51 victory.

Rozier, who came into the night averaging 17.6 points, fourth-best in the Atlantic Coast Conference, converted a lay-in with one minute to play that gave the Cardinals (22-6, 10-5 ACC) a 48-46 advantage, their first lead since the 11:58 mark of the first half.

Three possessions later, Marcus Georges-Hunt drove for a bucket that tied the game with 24 seconds left, but almost immediately, Rozier went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead lay-in. Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he would’ve preferred to have Rozier bring the ball up slowly, but watched his sophomore guard drive nearly the length of the floor to put the visitors up for good.

“There was no stopping (Rozier) at that point, he was going,” said Pitino. “Offensively, I give our guys the green light.”

After Montrezl Harrell missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity, Travis Jorgensen drove and his running floater was blocked by Chinanu Onuaku. Wayne Blackshear rebounded and put the game away with a pair of free throws.

“Well, I’m as proud of this basketball team as (in) any game I’ve ever coached,” said Pitino, whose in his 29th season on the collegiate sidelines. “They just focused on one thing - winning the game.”

Tech (12-16, 3-13), which fell to 0-6 against top-20 teams, led 34-28 after Rozier knocked down a jumper at the 13:24 mark. Four different players scored as the Yellow Jackets followed with a 7-0 run and led 41-28 when Demarco Cox converted a tough shot in the lane over two Louisville players with 9:40 to go. Louisville held Tech to just four made field goals over the final 9 1/2 minutes.

“They’re learning valuable lessons, defense is winning it for (Louisville),” Pitino said.

Meanwhile, Rozier had an outstanding stretch, draining consecutive 3-pointers to pull the Cardinals to within 41-34 with just under eight minutes to go. After a time out, Harrell (lay-up) and Blackshear (3-pointer) capped an 11-0 spurt and it was a 41-39 contest at the 6:45 mark. It was still a three-point Tech lead when Blackshear knocked down a three to even things up 46-46. Georges-Hunt had one of his six turnovers on the ensuing possession, which preceded Rozier’s heroics.

Tech put on a riveting display of dunking ability through the first 20 minutes to build its halftime cushion.

The game was tied at 14-14 when the Yellow Jackets converted three consecutive dunks - Robert Sampson off a pass from Travis Jorgensen, Tadric Jackson was on the receiving end off a nice outlet pass by Cox, then Cox had a follow-jam to put Tech up 20-14 with 6:36 left.

That forced a Louisville timeout, and though the Cardinals pulled to within 20-17 on Quentin Snider’s lay-in at the 3:18 mark, Jackson saved the half’s top highlight for the final scoring possession. The freshman drove baseline and threw down a one-handed dunk over the 6-10 Onuaku, which sent the Yellow Jackets into the halftime locker room up 24-17.

Jorgensen assisted on that dunk as well and he had three of the Yellow Jackets’ nine first-half helpers.

Neither team shot the ball well in the first half, though Tech’s 38 percent (11-for-29) looked other-worldly compared to Louisville’s 7-of-28 performance. It was also the third time this season Tech allowed less than 20 points in a first half (Rhode Island on November 30 and Northwestern on December 3).

Georges-Hunt had a team-high 13 points for Tech, which was playing Louisville for the first time as conference rivals and the first time overall since the Cardinals’ victory in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

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