COLUMBIA, S.C. — Adam Smith made five 3-pointers and scored 21, Marcus Georges-Hunt had 14 points and eight assists and Georgia Tech beat South Carolina 83-66 on Monday night in the second round of the NIT.
Josh Heath’s pull-up jumper in the lane gave Georgia Tech a 28-15 lead and Charles Mitchell’s layup capped an 11-1 run for a 17-point advantage. Georgia Tech was up 42-28 at halftime behind Georges-Hunt’s 12 points and Charles Mitchell’s 10.
Georgia Tech started the second half on a 7-0 run, with two dunks by Nick Jacobs and a Quinton Stephens 3-pointer, and they cruised from there.
Jacobs finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Georgia Tech (21-14), which made 11 of 22 3-poiners and shot 51 percent overall.
Georgia Tech advanced to the quarterfinals on Wednesday for the first time since 2003.
Michael Carrera had 17 points and nine rebounds for South Carolina (25-9). He grabbed his 800th rebound to become the sixth player in program history to reach the mark. Laimonas Chatkevicius, who had a career-high 30 points in the opening round against High Point, was limited to nine points.
The short-handed Gamecocks, who were without five suspended reserves for a second-straight game, were outrebounded 43-25.