Jeremiah Wilkinson and Blue Cain scored 18 points apiece, helping Georgia come away with its third straight win over Georgia Tech in the “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” rivalry, 92-87, Friday night in Athens, Ga.
Wilkinson, a Cal transfer, and Cain each hit two 3-pointers, accounting for four of the Bulldogs’ six perimeter makes.
Jordan Ross tallied 14 points and Somto Cyril racked up eight points, six rebounds and three blocks for Georgia (4-0), which improved to 31-0 in nonconference home games during coach Mike White’s tenure.
Kam Craft (17 points, 5-for-7 from 3-point range) led five Yellow Jackets in double figures. Lamar Washington and Jaeden Mustaf supplemented him with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Mustaf added six assists and five rebounds while Washington had five assists and five boards.
The Yellow Jackets (3-1) lost despite lighting it up from 3-point range, hitting 10 of 22 perimeter shots (45.5%).
Georgia flashed its depth with a 44-26 advantage in bench points.
In a back-and-forth battle that set up a 66-66 deadlock with 8:53 left, the Bulldogs created separation with a 7-0 run in 56 seconds. That was part of a larger 12-2 spree that gave Georgia the lead for good.
The Yellow Jackets charged late, scoring 13 points in the final two minutes, but they ran out of time.
After going on a 10-0 run to pull out of an early hole, Georgia led for much of the first half until the Yellow Jackets took a 43-40 lead with 2:16 left thanks to an 8-0 run. The Bulldogs immediately responded with a 6-0 run, and they took a 46-45 lead into the intermission.
Georgia Tech, in turn, went on another run early in the second half, this one 11-0 anchored by seven points from Mustaf to open up a 56-50 lead with 15:16 left.
Again, Georgia responded shortly thereafter with a 10-0 run to reclaim a 62-60 lead. Half of those points came from Jake Wilkins, whose Hall of Fame father Dominique was in attendance at the game.
