 snapped a three-game road losing streak. They took their first lead on Elijah Thomas' three-point play early in the second half and didn't trail again even though Georgia Tech tied it at 70-all on two free throws by Josh Okogie with 41.2 seconds remaining. Okogie missed an ensuing layup that set up Reed's layup at the 25-second mark, and Reed, with 3 seconds remaining, whiffed on his only free throw attempt of the game and his first in 15 attempts overall. Ben Lammers rebounded for Georgia Tech, but time expired before Jose Alvarado's long 3-point attempt bounced off the rim. Okogie finished with 26 points, and Abdoulaye Gueye added 14 for Georgia Tech (10-11, 3-5), which has dropped four straight. Clemson needed a dominant performance after getting blown out last Tuesday at No. 2 Virginia. The Tigers committed a season-high 19 turnovers against the Cavaliers, but they had just seven against the Jackets. Lammers' lengthy one-handed putback gave the Jackets their first 10-point lead with 13:03 left in the first half. They were up by 12 twice before DeVoe's layup made it 29-24 at the 5:47 mark. Mitchell converted a four-point play in the last minute of the first half to make it 38-36 at intermission. DeVoe kept the score close in the first half with 18 points. He was 4 for 5 on 3s before intermission. TIP-INSClemson: The Tigers won in their second game without Donte Grantham, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week against Notre Dame. The senior forward was second on the team with 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. ... DeVoe hit a 3 to make it 46-40, marking the first time this season that he's scored four 3s in the first half and hit one in the second. ... Coach Brad Brownell improved to 13-4 against Georgia Tech. ... The Tigers have won 14 of the last 18 in the series. ... The victory moved Clemson into a third-place tie with No. 4 Duke in the ACC standingsGeorgia Tech: In their second season under coach Josh Pastner, the Jackets are 5-7 against ranked opponents, 5-3 at home. ... Lammers had 10 points and nine rebounds. ... Alvarado scored 11. ... The Jackets committed just nine turnovers after totaling 49 in the last three games. ... In its last game, an 11-point loss at Florida State, Georgia Tech allowed the Seminoles to shoot 59.3 percent, a season-high against the defense. Clemson shot 45.2. GET TO THE RIMClemson lost its most accurate 3-point shooter when Grantham went down, but the Tigers' bigger problem is taking the ball to the rim. They began the game with the ACC's fourth-fewest free-throw attempts and ended a 51-minute streak without a two-shot attempt late in the first half when Shelton Mitchell hit a pair of free throws. UP NEXTClemson: Hosts No. 10 North Carolina on Tuesday night. Georgia Tech: Hosts Syracuse on Wednesday night.---More college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Time: 6:00 PM EST The first game for Clemson without senior forward Donte Grantham was as hard to watch Tuesday as his season-ending knee injury in the previous game for the No. 18 Tigers. After Grantham's college career came to an end last week against Notre Dame with the injury, Clemson lost 61-36 at No. 2 Virginia. The Tigers will attempt Sunday to bounce back at Georgia Tech (10-10, 3-4 ACC), which is struggling itself with a three-game losing streak. In the humbling loss to Virginia, the Tigers (16-4, 5-3) missed Grantham's leadership on the court and his production of 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game while making a career-best 56 percent from the floor and 41.9 percent from 3-point range. The Tigers had only one player score in double figures against the Cavaliers -- senior guard Gabe DeVoe with 11 points -- while freshman forward Aamir Simms scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds in his first career start at Clemson in place of Grantham. Clemson fell apart after taking a 23-16 lead -- the largest deficit for Virginia in conference play this season." At the end of the day, we have to figure out a way to play without (Grantham), and we're working on doing that," Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. "We've got to make some other adjustments and so some other things to counteract it, and I've got to figure some things out, but we'll work through that in the next month and a half." Simms could emerge as a player who can help Brownell down the stretch. He had his good moments and bad against Virginia. He scored seven points when Clemson took its 23-16 lead but he had only one offensive rebound and turned the ball over three times afterward." I thought Aamir Simms did some good things for us today," Brownell said. "For a freshman in there battling, he played as well as anybody." Clemson is the third consecutive ranked team to face Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have lost to No. 2 Virginia and No. 15 North Carolina in addition to Florida State during their slide. In the 88-77 loss at Florida State on Wednesday, Georgia Tech was led by guard Jose Alvarado with 23 points, followed by 16 points from fellow guard Josh Okogie, who also had a career-high 16 rebounds and dished out five assists. The Yellow Jackets got solid games from forward Abdoulaye Gueye, who dropped 14 points and grabbed seven boards, and center Ben Lammers, who contributed 13 points. Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner is mostly concerned with his team's defense despite the fact the Yellow Jackets are ranked second in the ACC in scoring defense, holding opponents to 62.2 points per game in conference play. They have allowed 80 or more in consecutive games." You talk about five guys have to guard the basketball; it can't be one guy," Pastner said. "We've got to have the floor shrunk and compact and the opponent has to see bodies. Tonight, we were leaving guys on an island and that's just bad defense." Of all our games this year, this is the one game where we were very individualized defensively. I felt we didn't shrink the floor, five guys weren't guarding the basketball and that's what happens." Promising for the Yellow Jackets: Georgia Tech is 5-2 under Pastner at home against ranked teams. The game is a sellout.
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