THE FLATS – Junior center Baye Ndongo delivered his best offensive night of the season to lead Georgia Tech men’s basketball (4-1) to its fourth-straight victory inside McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday evening. Ndongo finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets overcame an 11-point first half deficit to defeat the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles, 68-66.
Three Jackets finished in double-digits, led by Ndongo’s 20-point night. Freshman center Mouhamed Sylla recorded his fourth double-double of the season, becoming the first Tech freshman with four double-doubles in his first four home games, finishing with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Akai Fleming delivered 10 points off the bench as well, his third 10+ scoring night in five career games.
The Tech defense continues to be a strong point, holding the Eagles to a season-low 66 points after they came in averaging 93.75 points per game. The interior defense from Tech’s big men was vital in the defensive effort, holding Southern to 11-for-30 (36.6%) shooting from inside the arc, including a stunning 2-for-11 (18.2%) in the second half.
Tech utilized its physicality and toughness to out-rebound Southern 46-37 for the night, earning multiple trips to the line with their work down low, out-scoring the Eagles 20-8 at the charity stripe and 34-22 in the paint.
The Eagles came out shooting in the opening half, knocking down five early threes to jump in front, 23-12. The Jackets defense ratched up the intensity from there, holding Georgia Southern to 1-of-9 shooting and forcing a pair of turnovers to fuel a 15-2 run over the next 5:30 of game action and take the lead back, 27-25. Both sides traded buckets for the remainder of the half with Southern holding a one-point advantage at the break, 37-26. Ndongo led all scorers with 11 points at half, fueled by 5-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe.
Georgia Southern cut the lead to just one point with under 2:30 to play, only for Sylla to drain his first-career three pointer, putting the Jackets in front by four. Sophomore guard Jaeden Mustaf delivered clutch minutes down the stretch, playing quality defense and slithering his way to a layup with 1:19 left in the game to give GT a 67-63 lead, before a strong defensive effort from senior guard Lamar Washington poked the ball loose to eliminate a last-ditch effort to tie the game and hand Tech its fourth-straight victory at home.
Georgia Tech concludes its in-state swing with a Sunday afternoon tilt against West Georgia. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.