After the women’s basketball team emerged victorious in its 62-61 bout with Georgia Tech (GT) last Sunday, the men’s team took it a step further in its 74-62 win over the Yellow Jackets. 
Clemson’s Elijah Thomas started off the game with a layup, but a succession of lead changes quickly followed. When Clemson’s Marcquise Reed broke the tie with 7:35 left in the first half, however, Clemson held the lead until the end. 
After a well-played first half ending at 32-24, the Tigers, led by Avry Holmes, capitalized on GT’s passivity, increasing their lead to 21 points – the last 12 of them being unanswered. The Yellow Jackets mounted a comeback, getting within seven points of the Tigers, but they could not close the sizable gap they’d given up. Shelton Mitchell, unsatisfied with a close game, made all six of his free throws (FTs) within the last 70 seconds of the game. 
Holmes went 6-8 (75 percent) in field goals (FGs), but went a perfect 4-4 in three-pointers, and finished with 18 points for the Tigers. Mitchell went 4-9 (44.4 percent) in FGs but led the game in FTs, going 6-7 (85.7 percent). Thomas followed with 12 points and went 5-10 (50 percent) in field goals. 
For GT, Ben Lammers dominated with a game-high 25 points, going 12-18 (66.7 percent) in FGs. He was followed by Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson, each netting 12 points. Okogie went 6-9 (66.7 percent) on the free throw line, but Jackson went a flawless 4-4. 
Both teams, especially Clemson, struggled on the free throw line; GT went 15-21 (71.4 percent) and Clemson went 21-32 (65.6 percent), but the latter only went 15-25 (60 percent) without considering Mitchell’s impressive albeit last-minute performance. 
Clemson is now 13-8, 3-6 in the ACC, and GT is left at 13-9, 5-5 in the ACC. After breaking their six-game ACC losing streak in last Saturday’s 67-60 victory against Pittsburgh, the Tigers will look to continue its bounce-back at Florida State this Sunday. Tipoff is at 12:30 p.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.