With nearly 17 minutes to go on Tuesday, Clemson owned a 13-point lead on Georgia Tech. But when Marcus Georges-Hunt made two free throws with three seconds to play, the Yellow Jackets somehow walked out of the McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta with a 73-71 victory.

Jaron Blossomgame’s running jumper as time expired hit the back side of the rim and bounced off to secure Georgia Tech’s third straight victory and all but eliminate the Tigers from NCAA Tournament contention. It’s Tech first three-game winning streak since the 2007-’08 season.

Clemson (16-12, 9-7 ACC) lost its second straight and its fourth in the last six games. This loss, coupled with losses to Virginia Tech and NC State makes the Tigers road to a possible NCAA Tournament bid almost impossible. They will more than likely need to win the ACC Tournament to get an invite to the Big Dane.

Clemson has never won the ACC Tournament in the 63 years the conference has hosted the event.

The Tigers used a 17-6 run in the opening half to build a 12-point lead, 44-32, following a Blossomgame three-pointer with 1:04 to go before the break. The junior had 17 of his team-high 22 points in the first half. But Georges-Hunt drained a three-pointer from the right wing as time expired to cut the lead to nine at halftime.

Clemson appeared to gain control of the game, again, early in the second half as Avery Holmes and Grantham knocked down back-to-back threes coming out of the locker room. Those threes upped the lead to 12 points at the time.

Blossomgame scored on a layup and foul, and after he made the free throw a few moments later, it gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night, 53-40, with 16:57 to play in the game.

Tech (16-12, 6-9 ACC) cut the lead to six points with 13:23 to go on Georges-Hunt layup, but Grantham nailed another three-pointer and Holmes made a layup to quickly get the lead back to 11 points, 60-49, with 12:19 to play.

But Georges-Hunt and the Yellow Jackets were not done. Adam Smith helped Georges-Hunt in the comeback by scoring 15 of his 20 points in the second half, including a couple of rainbow threes and follow-way jumpers that brought Tech all the way back.

The Tigers again appeared to have control of the game as Grantham’s left-handed layup with 5:27 to play, put them up five points, 66-61. But two Georges-Hunt free throws and a layup cut the lead to one point and after Blossomgame put the Tigers back up three, 68-65, with a shot off the glass, Smith nailed a three-pointer from the right side to square things up at 68 with 3:40 to go.

The Yellow Jackets eventually took a three-point lead, 73-70, on two Smith free throws with 26 seconds to play. Grantham, who scored all 16 of his points in the second half, tied the game with a long three-pointer with 12 seconds to play.

Georges-Hunt, who scored a game-high 25 points, drove the lane and got Blossomgame to commit a foul with three seconds to play. He made both foul shots, before Blossomgame’s attempt to tie the game one more time bounced off the rim as time expired.

Clemson will take the next six days off before hosting Virginia next Tuesday in Greenville in the final regular-season home game of the year.

Photo credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

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