THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s basketball (5-1) used powerful post play and its usual smothering defense to fight past West Georgia, 82-66 on Sunday afternoon inside McCamish Pavilion. Junior forward Baye Ndongo stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 14 rebounds and five assists – one of only three players in the Atlantic Coast Conference to record a 10-10-5 double-double, as the Yellow Jackets improved to 5-0 at home this season.
After West Georgia went into the halftime break with a one point lead, 34-33, Tech went on a 10-1 scoring run midway through the second half to establish a nine-point advantage (59-50). The Wolves never got closer than five points away from that point on, with the Jackets leading by double-digits for the final 6:01 of the contest before finally settling on a 16-point win.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the glass all afternoon, out-rebounding UWG 48-28 over the course of the game, proving their prowess in the paint once again by outscoring UWG 52-20 down low.
Offensively, four different Jackets reached double digits, led by 18 points from senior guard Kowacie Reeves Jr. tying his largest point contribution of the season (also 18 vs. Bryant). Junior Kam Craft was next with 15 points over the course of a team-high 33 minutes of playing time. Down low, the Jackets once again saw double-doubles from both starting bigs with Ndongo (14 points and 14 rebounds) and Mouhamed Sylla (13 points and 11 rebounds). It was Ndongo’s second double-double of the season and the fifth for Sylla, who is averaging 13 points and 11.6 rebounds per game inside McCamish Pavilion this year.
Senior Lamar Washington delivered one of his best performances in White & Gold, leading the team with seven assists and only one turnover, while scoring eight points and hauling in four rebounds and securing a steal.
Georgia Tech will travel south this week to participate in the Emerald Coast Classic over Thanksgiving weekend on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida. The first matchup for the Jackets will be against DePaul on Friday, Nov. 28, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.