Jan. 20, 2004
By JENNA FRYER
AP Sports Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – It’s taken just over a month for Will Bynum to feel comfortable in Georgia Tech’s offense. Now that he does, the 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets are going to be hard to beat.
Bynum scored 20 points to lead Georgia Tech to a 73-66 victory Tuesday night over 10th-ranked Wake Forest, snapping the Demon Deacons’ 24-game home winning streak.
“Will will tell you he shoots like that all the time,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. “But he is getting more and more comfortable. He’s so good off the dribble and shooting the 3. He’s a great player in the open court.”
Bynum, a transfer from Arizona, became eligible to play for Georgia Tech (15-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) midway through December. He’s gradually forced his way into the offense and was coming off a career-high 25 points in Saturday night’s win over Maryland.
“Early on, I was not looking for my shot,” he said. “Now I am getting more comfortable out there and the coaching staff has been patient with me to get to this point.”
Wake Forest (11-3, 2-2) was looking to tie its school record of 25 consecutive victories at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. Instead, the Deacons dropped their third straight game and first at home since Feb. 21, 2002.
“I think it’s more disappointing to lose three in a row than it is to lose at home and have the streak broken,” center Eric Williams said. “Someday a Wake Forest team will break the home record, but right now we just need to focus on playing good basketball again.”
Williams said he and teammates Taron Downey and Jamaal Levy had called a player’s only meeting for Wednesday to figure out what’s ailing the Deacons.
“I don’t think the coaches even know about it, but it needs to be done,” Williams said. “A lot of things are going to be said, and basically the message will be, `We need to toughen up.’ “
The Yellow Jackets were aggressive early from 3-point range to take a lead they relinquished only once in the second half.
Georgia Tech shot 9-for-17 from 3-point range, led by Marvin Lewis, who was 4-for-4 and finished with 14 points. Bynum made three of his five 3-point attempts.
Paul Hewitt shouts to his team during the first half against Wake Forest at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem on Tuesday night.
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Isma’il Muhammad added 14 points for Georgia Tech, which snapped its five-game losing streak at Wake Forest.
Vytas Danelius led Wake Forest with 13 points. Jamaal Levy and Taron Downey added 11 and Justin Gray scored 10 before fouling out midway through the second half.
Chris Paul matched his season-low of two points as Tech used rotating bodies to shut down the star freshman.
“We wanted to keep a fresh set of legs on him defensively,” Hewitt said. “He does so much for Wake Forest and we just wanted to play great defense.”
Williams, Wake Forest’s leading scorer, continued his slump. After scoring in double figures in each of the Deacons’ first 11 games, he has been held to a total of 19 in the past three games.
Williams finished with nine against Georgia Tech on 4-of-7 shooting.
“The first two losses, I just played terrible and really struggled with the trap,” Williams said. “This time I was better with the trap, but I couldn’t finish anything. We’re all just struggling.”
The Yellow Jackets built an early lead off a flurry of 3-pointers, including five straight in a three-minute stretch of the first half. Jarrett Jack and Lewis started the barrage, and Bynum followed with three-straight 3s around a pair of free throws by B.J. Elder.
Georgia Tech’s hot shooting opened up a seven-point lead that Wake Forest could chip into, but struggled to overcome.
Wake Forest took a brief 54-52 lead with 10:25 to play, but Georgia Tech immediately grabbed it back on a 3-pointer by Lewis’ and never relinquished it.
