COLLEGE BASKETBALL▮VIRGINIA Virginia rallies past Tech for first road win of season
Isaac McKneely scored a team-high 20 points, including six 3-pointers, to help lead Virginia to a 75-66 road victory at Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Reece Beekman added 19 points and 11 assists for Virginia (13-5, 4-3 ACC), which won its first road game of the season. Jordan Minor added 11 points for the Cavaliers, who overcame an 11-point first-half deficit.
Freshmen Baye Ndongo and Naithan George led Georgia Tech (9-9, 2-5) with 15 points apiece, followed by eight points each from Kyle Sturdivant and Miles Kelly.
After finishing the first half on a 12-0 run, Virginia added to its four-point halftime advantage with an 11-3 start to the second half, taking a 44-32 lead with 16:42 left.
Jacob Groves' first bucket of the game was a layup with 7:45 left, giving Virginia its largest lead of the game, 63-48.
Facing a 14-point deficit, Georgia Tech went on a 9-0 run, cutting the Virginia lead to 67-62 with 1:39 left.
Groves came up big again at the 1:23 mark, knocking down a triple to push the Virginia lead back to eight points. After Ndongo's jumper, McKneely connected on his sixth three-pointer of the game, making the score 73-64 with 40 seconds left.
Virginia shot 29-for-58 from the floor, and 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) on 3-pointers, to Georgia Tech's 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) on 3-pointers.
In the first half, Georgia Tech led by as many as 11 points, thanks to a George triple that gave the Yellow Jackets a 2211 advantage at the 9:51 mark.
Virginia finished the first half on a furious scoring, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 22-7 over the final 9:33.
After tying the score at 29 with 1:32 left, Ryan Dunn's dunk followed by Taine Murray's layup at the buzzer gave the Cavaliers a 33-29 lead at the half. Dunn and Beekman scored seven points apiece to lead Virginia's first-half scoring, while George paced Georgia Tech with nine first half points.