Kowacie Reeves Jr. had 21 points and 10 rebounds Tuesday night to help Georgia Tech pull away for an 87-76 victory over visiting Marist in Atlanta.
Freshman Mouhamed Sylla totaled 14 points and eight rebounds, while Akai Fleming chipped in 13 and Lamar Washington added 11 points and 10 assists in the win. Kam Craft scored 10 points for the Yellow Jackets (7-4), who won their second straight.
Elijah Lewis’ 19 points led Marist (7-3), while Justin Menard scored 13. Jaden Daughtry and Myles Parker had 11 points apiece for the Red Foxes, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.
Georgia Tech led by eight at halftime before Reeves’ mini 4-0 personal run pushed the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 54-43 with 16:52 remaining. After Marist’s timeout, Craft’s 3-pointer and Fleming’s layup stamped a 12-0 run to give Georgia Tech a 61-43 lead.
Menard’s jumper and Daughtry’s triple stopped the bleeding for the visitors, but Cole Kirouac and Sylla’s dunk began a 9-2 Yellow Jackets’ run, extending the lead to 70-50 at the 11:20 mark.
Lewis’ trey pulled the visitors within 17, before Fleming and Kirouac’s slams were followed with Devi Remagen’s basket, pushing Georgia Tech’s lead to 78-55.
With less than three minutes remaining, Chas Kelly III’s jumper gave the Yellow Jackets an 18-point edge. Lewis’ layup and Parker’s five straight points sliced Marist’s deficit to 87-76 with just over a minute left, but that was as close as the Red Foxes would get.
After Reeves’ jumper gave Georgia Tech an early 9-5 lead, Menard’s back-to-back triples put the Red Foxes ahead by two with 16:38 left in the opening half.
From there, neither side took a two-possession advantage until Rhyjon Blackwell’s 3-pointer gave Marist a 31-27 lead at the 6:21 mark.
Trailing by three with less than four minutes left, the Yellow Jackets found their offensive rhythm to finish the first half. Washington’s free throws and Kelley 3-pointer began a 12-1 Georgia Tech run to end the first half, taking a 44-36 halftime-lead.
–Field Level Media
