No. 18 Clemson earns tough road win at Georgia Tech

Clemson’s success in close games this season continued Sunday night at Georgia Tech.

Tigers leading scorer Marcquise Reed made a layup with 25 seconds remaining to lift the Tigers to a 72-70 win in Atlanta.

The victory over the Yellow Jackets improves Clemson to 5-1 in games decided by five points or less this year.

No. 18 Clemson struggled offensively in its first game without Donte Grantham, who is out for the year with a torn ACL, but Gabe DeVoe carried the load against Georgia Tech.

The senior scored a career-high 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting to lead the Tigers to the victory.

The win improves Clemson to 17-4, including a 6-3 mark in ACC play. The Tigers will host No. 10 North Carolina on Tuesday.

Clemson was in danger of getting blown out early as the Yellow Jackets built a 12-point lead in the first half before Clemson cut the deficit to 38-36 at halftime.

The Tigers went on a 12-2 run to open the second half and took their largest lead of the game when Aamir Simms knocked down a jumper to give Clemson a 48-40 lead with 14:33 remaining.

Clemson led throughout much of the second half, including by eight with 3:56 remaining, before the Yellow Jackets rallied.

Georgia Tech went on a 10-2 run and tied the game at 70 with 41 seconds left before Reed’s layup gave Clemson the lead for good.

After the Tigers got a stop, Reed had a chance to ice the game with three seconds remaining but missed the front end of a one-and-one. But the Yellow Jackets were unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Shelton Mitchell added 17 points for the Tigers, while Reed finished with 13 points, five rebounds and 11 assists.

Georgia Tech was led by Josh Okogie, who poured in 26 points and added six rebounds.

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 8:22 PM with the headline "No. 18 Clemson earns tough road win at Georgia Tech."