Withers’ double-double leads Louisville past Georgia Tech

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jae’ly Withers had 19 points and 13 rebounds, Kamari Lands had 11 points and a big 3-pointer, and Louisville defeated Georgia Tech 68-58 on Wednesday night, for the Cardinals’ first ACC win of the season.

Louisville led 33-28 at halftime and maintained a slim lead through the first 10 1/2 minutes of the second half until Georgia Tech tied it at 45 on a dunk by Ja’von Franklin with 9:26 remaining. The Yellow Jackets never took the lead, making just 2 of 9 shots the rest of the game while the Cardinals finished 6 of 8 from the field.

Louisville’s JJ Traynor scored on an alley-oop dunk to push the lead to six with 5:10 remaining, and a minute later Traynor’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to six again, 57-51 with 3:55 remaining. At 2:40 Mike James hit a 3-pointer for a 60-53 lead.

Georgia Tech got within 62-58 on a free throw by Kyle Sturdivant then Lands hit a clutch 3-pointer that put the game in hand as the Cardinals led 65-58 with :43 to go.

El Ellis scored 11 points and Traynor added 10 for Louisville (3-19, 1-10).

Sturdivant scored 17 points and Miles Kelly 16 for Georgia Tech (8-14, 1-11). Kelly was the only Yellow Jacket to make a shot in the final 9 minutes.

Withers scored 14 points in the first half, making 3 of 4 3-pointers on the way to the Cardinals’ 33-28 halftime lead.

The Yellow Jackets have lost eight of their last nine games and fell into last place in the conference, half a game behind Louisville.

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