Michael DeVoe scored a game-high 18 points on Wednesday as Georgia Tech pulled away from Hawaii in the last 10 minutes to claim third place in the Diamond Head Classic with a 70-53 win at Honolulu.
Moses Wright added 16 and James Banks III hit for 11 points for the Yellow Jackets (6-6), who overcame the loss of forward Jordan Usher for the game's final 9:27. Usher was ejected after lead official Darron George viewed a replay of his flagrant-1 foul on the Rainbow Warriors' Dawson Carper and upgraded it to a flagrant-2.
From that point, Georgia Tech outscored Hawaii 25-7, holding the Rainbow Warriors without a field goal for the final 9:51. The Yellow Jackets took the lead for good with 8:17 left when Wright turned Jose Alvarado's feed into a layup, and they simply never looked back.
Wright's dunk off a pass by DeVoe, who claimed a loose ball and threw it over his shoulder to his open teammate in the lane, made it 61-50 with 3:57 remaining.
Drew Buggs and Zigmars Raimo each scored nine points for the Warriors (8-5).
Georgia Tech came out and made the first hit with its defense, forcing four turnovers in the first four-plus minutes and leading 8-4 at the first TV timeout thanks to a layup off a steal by DeVoe.
Hawaii made a push in the next five minutes, rallying for a 14-12 lead when Justin Hemsley dunked off a missed shot. The advantage reached 19-12 at the 8:39 mark as Justin Webster canned two free throws, but the Yellow Jackets responded.
An 11-4 run in the next 4 1/2 minutes, capped by Bubba Parham's transition layup, forged a 23-23 tie with 4:04 left. Another Parham layup gave Georgia Tech a 29-25 edge, but the Warriors scored the first half's last seven points. Bernardo Da Silva turned a Buggs dish into a layup just before time expired, sending Hawaii to the locker room with a 32-29 lead.
--Field Level Media
Georgia Tech | Hawaii | |
Michael Devoe 18 | Scoring | Drew Buggs 9 |
Jose Alvarado 4 | Assists | Drew Buggs 2 |
James Banks III 6 | Rebounds | Samuta Avea 5 |
James Banks III 5 | Free Throws Made | Justin Webster 5 |
Michael Devoe 4 | Steals | Zigmars Raimo 2 |
James Banks III 1 | Blocks | Dawson Carper 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Georgia Tech | 70 | 50.0 | 2-10 | 18-23 | 9 | 28 | 1 | 12 | 14 |
Hawaii | 53 | 36.4 | 1-15 | 20-26 | 5 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 19 |