Tech hoops beaten by Illinois-Chicago

ATLANTA -- Jeremy Buttell got a rare start and made the most of it.

Scott Vandermeer scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and Josh Mayo added 11 of his 17 points in the closing minutes to lead Illinois-Chicago to a 66-60 win over Georgia Tech on Sunday.

Buttell, however, hit the biggest shot of the game, on a 3-point basket with 42 seconds left to break a tie and give Illinois-Chicago a 60-57 lead that the Flames never gave up. It also gave the the Flames (6-2) their fifth straight win.

Buttell, a 6-foot-7 junior, started for only the second time this season. He took only four shots - all 3-pointers - and hit three of them for a season-high nine points. He had been averaging 1.6 points a game and 10 minutes playing time. He played 23 minutes Sunday.

"He got more playing time, and we talked to him," coach Jimmy Collins said. "We told him that no matter what, don't be afraid to shoot the basketball. He has to shoot if he's open, and if he misses then he misses.

"I haven't seen anybody yet that makes every shot he takes."

Georgia Tech (5-2) was led by Zach Peacock with 14 points and Gani Lawal added 11 points. The Yellow Jackets' 60 points was a season low.

"I thought we were pretty good defensively overall, but just missed too many open looks around the basket early on and we started to press a little bit after that," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said.

"Bottom line - we just need to get to work. There really is no secret formula," he said. "I liked what we did defensively. I didn't like all of the offensive boards we gave up (14) and the 17 second-chance points, but that's just something we need to clean up."

Mayo scored his 11 points in the final 5:21 of the game, including a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left for a 62-57 lead before Georgia Tech's Nick Foreman hit a 3-pointer to get within 62-60 with 14.7 seconds left. Vandermeer, however, added two free throws less than two seconds later and Mayo finished the scoring with a layup at the final buzzer.

Vandermeer, only 1-for-5 in the opening half, hit on 7 of 10 field goals in the second half. Mayo, meanwhile, scored only six points in the opening half and had none until 5:21 remained in the game.

Tech took its last lead at 49-48 on a basket by Lawal, the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer (19.8 per game). Lawal had only two points in the first half, and sat out more than eight minutes in the second after getting his third foul 4 seconds into the second half.

Georgia Tech led 32-30 at the half with Peacock scoring 10 points.

Mayo, Illinois-Chicago's leading scorer (21.0), had hit on 75 percent 3-pointers (18 of 24) in his previous three games and 54 percent overall (27 of 50). He was 1-for-5 on 3-pointers and 6-for-14 overall.

Collins won his 200th game in his 13th season at Chicago-Illinois.