ATLANTA — Ben Lammers scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half Josh Heath made four free throws in the final five seconds as Georgia Tech hung on for a 76-72 win Thursday over Wofford.
Tadric Jackson scored all 14 of his points in the first half while making his first start of the season, and the Yellow Jackets (7-4) beat the Terriers (5-8) for the 14th consecutive time, although this was in doubt nearly to the end.
Senior guard Eric Garcia scored a career-high 23 points in his second straight game and his three free throws with five seconds left in the game pulled Wofford to within 72-70.
Heath made a pair of free throws without any time having run off the clock, the Terriers raced down the court and Cameron Jackson scored a short jumper off of an offensive rebound to again pull Wofford within two with just 0.6 seconds to go.
Wofford fouled Heath at 0.1 and he made two more to finish with a season-high 12 points off the bench.
Tech moved to a 38-30 halftime lead in an unusual way - by making 5-of-9 3-pointers. Jackson, a junior guard, made all four of his.
The Jackets entered the game ranked 344th among Division I teams with an average of just four 3-pointers made per game, and 212th with a shooting percentage of 34.2 percent from distance. They made 3-of-22 in their previous two games.
The Terriers gave the Jackets fits in each half.
When Cameron Jackson scored with 7:35 left in the first half for a 23-20 Wofford lead, that was the Terriers' second consecutive score off of an offensive rebound and Tech coach Josh Pastner called timeout.
Tadric Jackson hit a 3-pointer moments later - the second of three straight - and though he didn't score until hitting the first at 8:10, he poured in 14 of the Jackets' final 21 points in the half and Tech hit 9-of-10 shots to lead by eight.
Wofford closed to within a point three times in the second half, helped by freshman guard Nathan Hoover (17 points) off the bench. Cameron Jackson had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
For Tech, Lammers added seven rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and a steal. He entered the game leading the nation in blocked shots (4.1) and 16th in rebounding (10.7).
BIG PICTURE
Wofford: After the Terriers closed their non-conference schedule 1-8 away from home, they can look forward to smaller Southern Conference opponents and an even split of home games the rest of the way. The Terriers were outscored 38-22 in the paint.
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets have just one more non-conference game before diving into the ACC, and they'd sure like to keep shooting like they did Thursday because life's going get a whole lot tougher inside.
UP NEXT
Wofford will play its first two Southern Conference games in Benjamin Johnson Arena Dec. 31 against Mercer and Jan. 2 against The Citadel.
Georgia Tech plays one more game before diving into ACC action as the Jackets will play host to North Carolina A&T Dec. 28. North Carolina visits Dec. 31.
