Georgia Tech KOs No. 15 Florida St. to win ACC title

Michael Devoe scored 20 points and Georgia Tech topped No. 15 Florida State 80-75 to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship Saturday night in Greensboro, N.C.

Jordan Usher and Moses Wright both finished with 15 points, and Jose Alvarado, who made clutch free throws and a late-game steal, contributed 13 points and five steals for the fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets, who won their first conference tournament crown since 1993.

Scottie Barnes posted 21 points, M.J. Walker racked up 15 points, Balsa Koprivica had 11 points and Anthony Polite added 10 points for Florida State (16-6). Barnes had nine of his points in the last 49 seconds.

Florida State was devastated by a season-high 25 turnovers, compared with only seven charged to Georgia Tech, limiting how much the Seminoles were able to benefit by shooting 56 percent from the field.

Georgia Tech (17-8) shot just 5-for-23 on 3-pointers, including Usher going 1-for-6.

Georgia Tech led 31-30 at halftime, but Florida State went up 44-35 before the Yellow Jackets responded with a 13-2 run, fueled by steals.

Devoe’s 3-pointer with 6:46 left gave the Yellow Jackets the lead for keeps. Usher scored six points in the final 4 1/2 minutes.

Georgia Tech and Florida State split their regular-season meetings.

Both teams reached the final by playing only once because of tournament withdrawals of Duke and Virginia based on coronavirus protocols across the previous two days.

Georgia Tech beat No. 13 seed Miami in the quarterfinals and then had Friday off when top-seeded Virginia pulled out, while Florida State didn’t play until Friday night’s escape against sixth-seeded North Carolina. A would-be Duke-Florida State quarterfinal didn’t happen when Duke withdrew.

This was only the second time in ACC history that no North Carolina-based team competed in the ACC tournament championship game. Georgia Tech won that 1990 title tilt vs. Virginia.

The Seminoles have lost consecutive ACC tournament finals, falling to Duke in 2019 in Charlotte, N.C. Last year, Florida State left Greensboro with the hardware as it was awarded the league championship — based on regular-season results — despite not playing when the tournament was interrupted by the pandemic.