ATLANTA (Feb. 24, AP) – Jason Collier scored 22 points, 11 during an early second-half comeback from a 13-point deficit, and Shaun Fein hit three of four free throws in the final 12 seconds as Georgia Tech beat North Carolina State 66-63 Thursday night.
The Yellow Jackets (12-14, 4-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Wolfpack (15-10, 5-9) their sixth loss in a row. State had beaten Tech in their last seven meetings.
Anthony Grundy led the Wolfpack with 29 points, but failed to get the handle on a 3-point attempt in the final five seconds and State’s Ron Kelley missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
State led 40-27 early in the second half when Tech put together a 23-4 run that produced a 50-44 lead with 9:02 remaining.
The Jackets stretched their lead to 54-46 on two free throws by Alvin Jones with 8:15 to play before Grundy got the Wolfpack back in the game,
scoring 10 points in a row, including a pair of 3-pointers, producing a 56-54 lead with 6:05 to play.
A Jones dunk and a Kelley basket left State ahead 58-56 and Tony Akins tied it on two free throws for the Jackets with 3:47 remaining.
Jones then tied it on two free throws at the 1:43 mark, followed by Grundy’s 3-pointer with 1:19 left.
Collier hit a jump hook at the one-minute mark and then made one free throw with 38 seconds left for a 63-61 Tech lead. Grundy tied it on a driving layup with 32 seconds left, leaving the rest of the scoring to Fein from the free throw line.
Jones and Fein added 10 points each for Tech.
