AUBURN, Ala. – Georgia Tech fought off a feisty Auburn team to take home a 57-51 decision over the Tigers Wednesday night in Neville Arena. The first win over Auburn in program history was fueled by four Yellow Jackets in double-figures led by Cameron Swartz with 16 points. Tech moved to 3-0 on the young season with the victory, while handing Auburn (2-1) its first loss of the season.
Auburn regained the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Tech’s defense staged off a rally from the Tigers. Tonie Morgan sparked Tech’s strong finish and scored six points in the last 10 minutes to help lift the Yellow Jackets to victory. Both teams hit four field goals in the final period, but Tech went 6-for-10 at the free throw line to Auburn’s 2-for-3 effort to close the game and held the Tigers a mere 19.0 percent (4-for-21) shooting efficiency from the field.
Following a back-and-forth battle to open the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets drained three triples (two from Swartz and one from Bianca Jackson) and capped an 11-0 run with a bucket from Eylia Love to give Tech a 17-5 advantage at the end of the stanza.
Auburn won the second quarter, slicing its double-digit deficit to a seven point game at halftime. The teams traded baskets in the early going before Love hit a jumper at 4:53 to give Tech its largest lead, 29-14. However, the Jackets were held to one field goal and a free throw over the remainder of the quarter as Auburn used an 11-3 run to close the score to 32-25 at intermission. Auburn owned 18 offensive rebounds after the first half, converting for 11 second chance points, and led on the boards, 25-13.
Eylia Love finished with 12 points and four rebounds in Tech’s first-ever win over Auburn on Wednesday. Photo by Elaina Eichorn
In the third quarter, the Jackets were held to three field goals, including a layup from Morgan with 5.1 ticks on the clock that gave Tech a narrow 43-40 lead entering the fourth quarter. Auburn grabbed the lead from the free throw line at 7:47 in the fourth, but Morgan’s reverse layup on the ensuing play returned the lead to Tech, 45-44. The Jackets took a 49-44 lead on back-to-back buckets from Swartz and Love, and held a 51-46 lead at the final media timeout. Tech went 6-for-8 from the free throw line over the final four minutes, led by a 4-for-4 showing from Morgan, to seal the 57-51 road victory.
Swartz led all scorers with 16 points, followed by 12 points from both Jackson and Love, while Morgan finished with 10. The Jackets shot 40.0 percent from the field and 59.1 percent (13-for-22) from the free throw line.
Auburn was led by Aicha Coulibaly and Honesty Scott-Grayson, each with 11 points. The Tigers won the battle on the glass, 51-39, paced by 10 boards from Mya Pratcher. For the third-straight game, a Tech opponent was held to under 30 percent shooting as Auburn finished 26.3 percent (20-76) from the field.
The Jackets return home to welcome in-state rival Georgia on Sunday, Nov. 20. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. on ACC Network.
Competitive Drive Initiative
In a unified endeavor, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech athletics and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund have come together to accelerate funding for student-athlete scholarships with the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative. The initiative kicks off with the Accelerate GT Match Program, where any new gift to the A-T Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund made through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Georgia Tech Foundation, up to $2.5 million. Should Accelerate GT reach its $2.5 million fundraising goal, the matching gift would result in a $5 million impact for Georgia Tech athletics. To learn more and to contribute online, visit atfund.org/accelerate.
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