Dec. 3, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Jack McClinton had 22 points and Anthony Harris added 21 to help Miami beat No. 21 Georgia Tech 90-82 Sunday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools.
Dwayne Collins had dunks on consecutive possessions in the final minutes for the Hurricanes (5-3, 1-0), whose eight-point lead with 5:05 left was whittled to 77-75 when Lewis Clinch hit a pair of free throws less than 2 minutes later.
But Georgia Tech (6-2, 0-1) had turnovers on its next two trips to the Miami end of the floor, Collins finished both ensuing possessions with dunks from the left side of the lane and the Hurricanes held on to stay perfect (4-0) at home this season.
Clinch scored 22 points for Georgia Tech, and Ra’Sean Dickey had 19 on 7-for-7 shooting. Javaris Crittenton also had 19 for the Yellow Jackets, 13 of them coming in the first half.
“When you score 82 points on the road and give up only 14 offensive rebounds to this team you’d probably come away with a win,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “They shot the ball very well. I don’t think we guarded, especially off the dribble, particularly well. And we gave up 90 points, so we deserved to lose.”
Brian Asbury had 16 points and Raymond Hicks added 11 before fouling out for Miami, which is 3-0 in conference home openers since joining the ACC.
There were eight lead changes in the first half, the last coming at the buzzer when McClinton gave Miami a 39-37 lead – which the Hurricanes kept the rest of the way.
Crittenton lost control of the ball while driving for what would have been an easy score, and the Hurricanes scooped it up with about 7 seconds remaining. James Dews pushed it upcourt for Miami, then found McClinton on the right wing for a 3-pointer that swished through as the buzzer sounded.
McClinton had only two points in the first 14:45, yet the Hurricanes and Yellow Jackets were tied at 27 at that point. Mouhammad Faye scored with 2:52 left to give Georgia Tech a 35-31 edge, but the Hurricanes went on a 13-4 run that ended when Harris hit a 3-pointer about 2 minutes into the second half.
McClinton was 10-for-10 from the foul line, 8-for-8 in the second half.
“You’ve got to make people miss,” Hewitt said. “You can’t hope that they miss. You have to make people miss. And I don’t think we did that enough. I don’t think we gave the effort we needed to give to make them miss like I know we’re capable of doing.”
