HONOLULU — Freshman Baye Ndongo scored a season-best 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Georgia Tech hold off Hawaii 73-68 at the Diamond Head Classic on Friday night.
The Yellow Jackets (8-3), winners of four straight, advance to play Nevada (11-1) in the championship game at 9 p.m. on Sunday. The Rainbow Warriors (8-3) and TCU will play for third place earlier Sunday. Nevada advanced to the title game by defeating Temple and TCU.
Ndongo sank 10 of 12 shots and notched his second double-double, taking over down the stretch for Georgia Tech. Miles Kelly and Ndongo combined to score 17 of the final 21 points for the Yellow Jackets.
A 3-pointer by Naithan George gave the Yellow Jackets their largest lead at 52-31 with 16:24 left to play. Matthue Cotton answered with a 3-pointer for Hawaii, sparking a 19-0 run. Harry Rouhliadeff hit a 3-pointer to cap the surge, pulling the Rainbow Warriors within 52-50 with 9:04 remaining.
George hit one of two free throws to end the run, but Hawaii kept coming and took a 59-58 lead on two free throws by Bernardo da Silva at the 4:35 mark. Ndongo answered with back-to-back layups and scored eight of the next 10 points for the Yellow Jackets to keep the Rainbow Warriors at bay.
“I just wanted to win,” Ndongo said.
George and Kelly added 14 points apiece for Georgia Tech. Tafara Gapare added nine points and seven rebounds in his first start since Nov. 14.
“Stay calm,” Tech coach Damon Stoudemire said of his message after Hawaii took the lead. “We’ve been here before. We were able to make plays. Starting with defensive plays, we are able to make plays and started getting downhill again.”
JoVon McClanahan finished with 19 points and eight assists to pace Hawaii.
Ndongo scored 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting to lead Georgia Tech to a 43-27 lead at halftime.
Georgia Tech is bidding to win its first in-season neutral site tournament since the 2003 NIT Preseason NIT, when the Yellow Jackets defeated No. 1 Connecticut and No. 25 Texas Tech to capture that title.
About the Author
