Baye Ndongo scored a career-high 29 points and added 18 rebounds on Saturday, as Georgia Tech posted an 87-62 win over visiting North Carolina State in Atlanta in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Duncan Powell had 23 points and 10 boards, while Lance Terry scored 15 and Jaeden Mustaf chipped in 13 points off the bench, as Georgia Tech (15-14, 9-9 ACC) won its fourth game in five tries. Naithan George led all players with 12 assists.
NC State (11-18, 4-14) was paced by Ben Middlebrooks and Dontrez Styles, who each finished with 13 points. The Wolfpack committed 14 turnovers to Georgia Tech’s six, as they dropped their 12th of 14 games.
After NC State cut its 41-30 halftime-deficit to 10 on Styles’ 3-pointer with less than 15 minutes left, Mustaf’s triple and Ndongo’s layup gave the Yellow Jackets a 54-39 lead.
Midway through the second half, Terry’s 3-pointer pushed Georgia Tech’s advantage to 18, before a pair of Paul McNeil baskets started a 7-0 run, pulling the Wolfpack within 11.
Leading 67-56, the Yellow Jackets pulled away for good with a 13-0 run, capped with Ndongo’s dunk at the 4:38 mark. Bryce Heard then scored four in a row for the Wolfpack, but another Ndongo dunk followed by Emmer Nichols’ triple and Mustaf’s layup punctuated Georgia Tech’s blowout win.
Heard’s trey gave NC State an 11-8 lead nearly six minutes into the game, before a pair of Ndongo baskets and Terry’s layup gave the Yellow Jackets a three-point edge with 11:34 left.
Still trailing by three, Middlebrooks’ hook shot and Marcus Hill’s three-point play swung the lead back to the Wolfpack midway through the opening half.
Middlebrooks’ layup later knotted the score at 25, but Powell’s triple, Ndongo’s three-point play, and Mustaf’s layup gave the Yellow Jackets a 33-25 lead with 2:30 left — their largest to that point.
Mustaf’s dunk with less than a minute left pushed Georgia Tech’s edge to 10, and Terry’s triple sent the Yellow Jackets into halftime with a 41-30 cushion.
–Field Level Media
