Morrow, Georgia Tech beat Wake Forest 87-79 in OT

3/1/2008 3:59 PM

By CHARLES ODUM
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -Georgia Tech lost a 13-point lead in regulation but Gani Lawal scored six points in overtime as the Yellow Jackets recovered to beat Wake Forest 87-79 on Saturday.

Lawal had only two points in regulation but scored the Yellow Jackets' first two baskets in overtime.

Georgia Tech, led by Anthony Morrow's 22 points, never trailed.

After a 2-2 tie, Georgia Tech led until only 43.6 seconds left when a short jumper by Wake Forest's Jeff Teague tied the game at 72-72.

Georgia Tech's D'Andre Bell missed a jumper but the Yellow Jackets were awarded possession when the ball went out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left. Maurice Miller turned the ball over on an attempted pass inside to Jeremis Smith, leading to the overtime.

Miller had 18 points and Smith added 16.

Chas McFarland set a career high with 28 points and led the Demon Deacons with 12 rebounds. McFarland's previous high was 17 against Florida State on Feb. 17.

Georgia Tech (12-15 overall, 5-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) ended a five-game losing streak that began after its 89-83 win at Wake Forest on Feb. 6.

Wake Forest (16-11, 6-8) suffered its third straight loss.

Teague added 20 points for Wake Forest. McFarland and Teague fouled out in the overtime.

It marked the second overtime in the last three games between the teams, following Wake Forest's 114-112 double-overtime win over the Yellow Jackets in the 2007 ACC tournament.

James Johnson played only four minutes in the first half before leaving with three fouls, no points and no rebounds. Without their leading scorer and rebounder, the Demon Deacons' struggled.

Teague, who came off the bench after starting Wake Forest's first 13 ACC games, had 13 points in the first half. Georgia Tech led 44-37 at the break.

Wake Forest guard L.D. Williams left with his fourth foul less than four minutes into the second half.

Georgia Tech used 3-pointers by Morrow and Miller to take a big lead of 54-41 with 14:34 left. Wake Forest answered with a 15-4 run, capped by Harvey Hale's 3-pointer with 9:38 left, to cut the lead to 58-56. Hale had seven points in the run.

Wake Forest cut the lead to two points two more times before pulling to within 71-70 on a 3-pointer by Teague with 2:05 left.

Johnson finished with only four points, 11.5 below his average.

The Yellow Jackets were without senior guard Matt Causey, who suffered a mild concussion in Wednesday's loss at Duke.