Georgia Bulldogs make it 5 in row over Tech in basketball

Athens — The “Ant Man Show” everybody came to see never really materialized, but the Georgia Bulldogs got a good show from Rayshaun Hammonds, and that gave a near-capacity crowd its main attraction for the night -- another win over Georgia Tech.

Hammonds scored 19 of his 26 points in the first half, and Anthony “Ant Man” Edwards took over with 16 in the second to lead the Bulldogs to a 82-78 win over the Yellow Jackets before 10,205 at Stegeman Coliseum. That's about 300 spectators short of a sellout.

The victory gave the Bulldogs (4-0) a five-game winning streak over their archrivals for the first time since 1941. Georgia leaves for Hawaii and the Maui Invitational on Friday. The Bulldogs play Dayton on Monday at 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2).

The Yellow Jackets, in their fourth season under Josh Pastner, fall to 2-1. Michael Devoe led the visitors with 34  points, including six in the last 10 seconds. Devoe made a half-court 3-pointer at the final buzzer.

After scoring just two points on two free throws in the first half, Edwards scored in all manner of ways after halftime as the Bulldogs played just well enough to keep the Yellow Jackets a safe distance behind. Tech never got closer than nine points from the 18-minute mark to the final minute.

Edwards struggled with his shot throughout the night, finishing 5-of-15 from the floor. But he made 7-of-10 fouls shots and 1-of-3 3-pointers while collecting eight rebounds in 32 minutes of play.

Hammonds was 11-of-20 from the floor with two 3s and finished with nine rebounds. Donnell Gresham Jr. added 13 for the Bulldogs.

After shooting 41.9 percent in the first half to build a 35-27 lead, the Bulldogs made four of their first five shots to open the second half and shoot ahead by 16 points, 49-33. In the midst of it came Edwards’ first field goal of the night, a jump shot just inside of the 3-point line at the 17:50 mark.

Georgia used 13-2 run over the final 5:02 of the first half to forge 35-27 halftime lead. The Bulldogs did it without a significant contribution from their prized player.

Edwards took only three shots in the first half and missed them all. His two points came on a pair of foul shots at the 8:17 mark. He played just over 14 minutes and had two fouls.

No, Hammonds was the only Bulldog getting anything done on offense. He scored 19 on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range. No other Georgia player made more than one shot.

Tech was equally one-dimensional. The Jackets got 14 points from Devoe on 5-of-8 shooting. Where they were especially deficient was the foul line, where they missed on seven of 10 tries. That contributed to a losing the eight-point lead they had at the 9:20 mark, when the game devolved into a bunch of free throws.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution