Syracuse, N.Y. – In a game that featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes, Syracuse overcame 19 points and 10 rebounds by Georgia Tech’s Rodney Howard to escape with a 74-73 overtime win over the Yellow Jackets on Monday night at the Carrier Dome.
The back-and-forth affair came down to the final seconds. Leading 74-73 with the shot clock off and less than 30 seconds to go in overtime, it appeared that Georgia Tech would have to foul Syracuse to stop the clock and regain possession. However, the Jackets trapped Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim just across half-court and Kyle Sturdivant made a spectacular play to strip the ball from Boeheim’s hands. The loose ball hit off Boeheim’s leg and caromed out of bounds to give Tech possession with 22 seconds remaining.
On its ensuing possession, Michael Devoe had two shots to give the Jackets the lead, but both missed. However, the Jackets collected offensive rebounds on both misses, the second of which was grabbed by Deebo Coleman, who dished to a Khalid Moore in the paint. As Moore went up for the possible go-ahead layup, three Orange defenders converged and Moore fell to the floor, where he was tied up for a jump ball. Although Moore wasn’t awarded free throws on the play, Tech had the arrow and retained possession with 3.3 seconds left on the clock.
That gave the Jackets one more chance, and they once again went to Devoe, who had already drained four 3-pointers on the night and had 14 points. Unfortunately, his contested 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer and Tech was saddled with the heartbreaking one-point defeat.
Georgia Tech (11-16, 4-12 ACC) raced out to an early 12-3 lead, but Syracuse (15-12, 9-7 ACC) quickly rallied and neither team led by more than seven points the rest of the way. The Orange took its biggest advantage of the game at 59-53 with less than five-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation, but the Jackets outscored SU 10-4 down the stretch to send the game to overtime.
Howard continued his torrid play of late, finishing with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, good for his fourth straight game with double-digit points and his second double-double in the last three contests. After not scoring more than four points in any of his first seven ACC games of the season, Howard is averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game over the past four contests.
Jordan Usher notched his sixth double-double this season for Tech with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Devoe’s 14 points rounded out three Yellow Jackets in double-figures.
Jimmy Boeheim led four Syracuse players in double-figures with a game-high 20 points.
Georgia Tech returns to action on Wednesday, when it plays its third game in five days against red-hot Virginia Tech, which has won six of its last seven games. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion and the game will be televised nationally on ACC Network.