THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s basketball completed its sweep of foreign tour exhibition games on Thursday afternoon, holding on for a 90-89 overtime win against Dalhousie University in Nassau. Four Yellow Jackets posted double-figure scoring totals in the win.
Nasir Whitlock led Tech offensively with 24 points, followed by Courtland Muldrew with 23, while Tylis Jordan added 11 points and Colby Garland contributed 10. Tech won the battle on the glass, 46-38, paced by Muldrew’s nine rebounds and Jordan with seven. Garland dished out a team-high five assists and was one of four Jackets with double-digit helpers in the outing.
In a battle-tested contest that saw 22 lead changes and 13 ties, Tech fought back from a double-digit deficit to claim the victory. Knotted at 17-apiece late in the opening quarter, Dalhousie strung together an 11-0 run spanning the quarter break to open a 28-17 lead less than two minutes into the second frame. Trailing by 10, Garland sparked a 12-2 Georgia Tech run over a two-minute spurt to return the lead to the Jackets, 35-33.
The teams continued to trade baskets and the lead as neither team would hold larger than a one possession edge until the fourth quarter. Ignited by four points from Muldrew, the Jackets posted seven unanswered points to close the third and open the final quarter to put Tech in front, 66-60. The Jackets would continue to hold a six-point advantage until a late rally from Dalhousie returned the lead to the Tigers with an 11-3 run for an 80-78 tally with 1:31 left to play in regulation. Jordan finished a Garland feed under the basket with 29 seconds on the clock to force overtime. Muldrew chipped in half of Tech’s overtime points with five, while Jordan added four, leading Tech to a 90-89 victory. Muldrew sealed the win converting a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left to play.
“The foreign tour was a great experience for our team and definitely helped with our team chemistry,” stated head coach Scott Cross. “In our games, we were able to experience a little bit of adversity and it’s good to figure it out early in the summer. Hopefully each time you experience adversity, you respond a little bit better. This trip will help us grow as a basketball team as we find things we need to work on ahead of the season. We have a very young basketball team that is only going to get better. I think this group has a big ceiling, but we’ve got to continue to take steps in the right direction and I felt like this was a very valuable experience for us.”
In the two games this week, Whitlock averaged 19.5 points and Muldrew followed closely behind at 19.0 points per game. Jordan added 16.5 points per game, while Garland chipped in 11.5 points.