Tylis Jordan scored a game-high 27 points on Tuesday to help Georgia Tech pull away from Eastern Kentucky for an 85-71 victory in Atlanta, Ga.
Victor Valdes and Colby Garland added 17 points apiece for Georgia Tech (3-0), which trailed by one point at halftime. The Yellow Jackets, who remained perfect under first-year head coach Scott Cross, outrebounded the Colonels 50-30.
Damone King and Justin McCarter each scored 20 to lead Eastern Kentucky (2-1), which played its first game against a Division I opponent of the season. Josh Lowe chipped in 11 points for the Colonels, who led by as many as 10 points in the first half. Shadrak Lasu had a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
Georgia Tech scored the first seven points of the second half and went ahead 48-42 on a Jordan layup.
After King connected on back-to-back jumpers to pull the Colonels to within two, Garland hit two jumpers as part of a 7-0 spurt to push the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 58-49.
Eastern Kentucky answered again with 3-pointers from Jackson Holt and McCarter to slice the deficit to three with 11:24 remaining.
Another 7-0 Georgia Tech run pushed the margin to nine before Jordan completed a three-point play to give the Yellow Jackets their first double-digit lead with 7:01 left.
Kam Craft’s layup started a game-ending 7-0 run to seal Georgia Tech’s third consecutive win.
The Colonels scored nine straight points in the first half and took a 19-9 lead on McCarter’s layup with 11:16 remaining.
Georgia Tech answered with a 9-0 run of its own, which included Jordan’s 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to pull the Yellow Jackets to within one.
McCarter’s layup pushed the Colonels’ advantage to 35-31 with 4:11 left in the half. After Austin Ball drilled his second 3-pointer of the first half to give Eastern Kentucky a 42-37 lead, Valdes made two free throws and Jordan closed the opening half with a layup to cut the Yellow Jackets’ deficit to 42-41.
McCarter and Jordan led their teams with 14 first-half points apiece.