WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) (Feb. 27) – Wake Forest used the inside play of Darius Songaila and some timely 3-point shooting to extend Georgia Tech’s ACC road woes with a 76-64 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Sunday, February 27.
Songaila left briefly in the first half with a groin pull, but the sophomore forward wound up with a career-high 26 points as the Demon Deacons (15-13, 6-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) sent Georgia Tech to its ninth straight road loss in league play.
The Yellow Jackets (12-15, 4-10) have lost 12 consecutive games on the road dating back nearly 13 months. Georgia Tech is 0-7 in ACC road games this season.
Jason Collier led Georgia Tech with 19 points.
Shaun Fein had all 13 of his points in the second half for the Yellow Jackets, who also got 11 from Tony Akins.
Wake Forest got 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists from freshman Josh Howard. Robert O’Kelley and Craig Dawson added 11 points apiece for the Demon Deacons, who hit five of 11 3-point tries in the second half and finished with a 43-36 edge on the boards, including 19 offensive rebounds that they converted into 15 points.
There were three ties in the second half before Dawson hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to put Wake Forest up 43-40. The basket started a 15-8 surge, capped by Ervin Murray’s 22-footer as the shot clock expired to make it 55-48 with 8:31 remaining.
Georgia Tech cut it to 63-60 on a 3-pointer by T.J. Vines with 2:36 left, but Songaila answered with a jumper in the lane, then stripped the ball from Collier on the other end. The play set up a fast-break layup by Howard that made it 67-60 at the 1:55 mark.
Wake Forest sealed it by making nine of 10 free throws in the last 1:43.
The Demon Deacons’ hustle down low was evident early, especially the play of Songaila. Consistently outjumping Collier, Songaila hit his first four field-goal attempts, putting Wake Forest up 14-7 on the way to a 32-26 halftime lead.
