Men's Basketball By JOHN JACKSON

Northwestern holds on against Georgia Tech 67-61

Associated Press

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) Ryan Taylor had 20 points, Vic Law added 14 and nine rebounds and Northwestern survived a second-half offensive drought to hang on for a 67-61 victory over Georgia Tech Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Dererk Pardon had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Northwestern (6-1) won its third straight.

The Wildcats had a 28-point lead with 16 minutes remaining before the offense suddenly went cold.

Jose Alvarado had 24 points for Georgia Tech (4-2).

Georgia Tech won the meeting between the teams last season, 52-51, in Atlanta.

Northwestern quickly established control of the game on the defensive end. Georgia Tech managed just 20 first-half points on 6-for-24 (25 percent) shooting.

Law led the way for the Wildcats with 10 first-half points, while Taylor and Anthony Gaines added eight points apiece.

Gaines hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 40-20 at halftime, NU's biggest lead to that point.

The Wildcats were 13 of 27 (48 percent) from the field in the first half.

Northwestern opened the second half with a 10-2 run for a 50-22 lead, but Georgia Tech responded with a 13-2 run to pull within 52-35.

The Yellow Jackets picked up their defensive pressure and quickly got the Wildcats out of rhythm offensively.

The lead was down to 57-47 with 7 1/2 minutes to play. Georgia Tech kept chipping away, but couldn't score consistently enough to make a serious push at winning the game. The closest the Yellow Jackets got was 66-61 on an Alvarado 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go.

BIG PICTURE

Georgia Tech: All of the Yellow Jackets' wins so far this season have come against teams from smaller conferences. Their only other road game was a 66-53 loss against No. 6 Tennessee.

UP NEXT

Georgia Tech: Play St. John's in the Hoophall Miami Invitational on Saturday.