Milwaukee, Wis. – Georgia Tech spotted Northwestern the first 11 points of the first half and the first seven points of the second half, battled back each time but lost, 71-60, to the Wildcats Sunday afternoon in the MKE Tip-off at the Fiserv Forum.
Tech (4-6) lost its third straight game, all of them on the road, as it returns home for a pair of games this week. Northwestern (8-3) won its second game in a row.
Tech surrendered an 11-0 lead out of the gate, missing its first seven shots while committing four turnovers before Javian McCollum (Fort Myers, Fla.) got the Yellow Jackets on the board with a 3-point field goal at the 13:40 mark. The Jackets recovered, limiting Northwestern to missing 12 of 14 shots at one point and shaved their deficit twice to three points before going into intermission trailing 31-26.
But Northwestern scored the first seven points of the second half to again stretch its lead to double digits within the first three minutes. This time Tech did not recover, falling behind by as many as 22 points before trimming the deficit to the final 11 points.
Tech shot the ball poorly for the second straight game (39.3 percent). Senior guard Lance Terry (College Park, Ga.) led the Jackets with 17 points, while graduate center Ryan Mutombo (Atlanta, Ga.) contributed 10 points and seven rebounds in his first action of the season, playing 22 minutes. Freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf (Bowie, Md.) added 11 points and six boards.
Brooks Barnhizer led four Wildcats in double digits with a game-high 20 points. Nick Martinelli and Jalen Leach each scored 16, and Ty Berry added 11 for Northwestern, who made nine threes in the game.
Tech returns to home this week for two games, first hosting UMBC at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at McCamish Pavilion. The game will be live streamed on ACC Network Extra.