NCAA Game Summary - Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech

Washington, DC (Basketball News) - B.J. Elder had 19 points to lead the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets past Virginia Tech, 73-54, in quarterfinal action of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the MCI Center.

Jarrett Jack and Will Bynum each added 13 points for the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets (18-10), who have won two straight and will now face top-seeded North Carolina in Saturday’s semifinals. The Tar Heels survived against Clemson earlier in the day.

"I don’t know if this win put us in the NCAA tournament," Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt said. "We have a chance to take all doubt out of the equation. Our mind-set was to come in and ’Let’s win this first game’ and see if we can keep it going through the weekend so we don’t have to worry about talk about bubble and things like that."

Virginia Tech (15-13), the fourth-seed, was led by Carlos Dixon, who had 12 points. The Hokies, who must hope for an invite to the NIT, have dropped three of their last four.

Leading by five at the break, Georgia Tech continued to carry the momentum in the early stages of the second half, scoring the first nine points to open a 14-point advantage, 39-25, on Jack’s three-pointer 2:30 into the period.

The crucial run to start the second was part of a 20-2 surge that bridged both halves and Virginia Tech was never able to recover. The Yellow Jackets held a double-digit lead the rest of the way and cruised to the 19-point win.

"The start of the second half we did not need to play with a sense of urgency and a toughness that you need to play with to beat a team as good as Georgia Tech," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said."That shouldn’t take away from what we did this year. No one expected us to be in this game, no one expected us to be competitive in this league, and that’s probably why it hurts so much."

The teams combined for 40 turnovers, 22 of which were credited to the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech grabbed a 15-8 advantage midway through the first period on Elder’s free throw. Virginia Tech then scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a two-point edge.

After the Hokies went up four, the Yellow Jackets reeled off 10 straight points, capped by an Elder trey, to take their biggest lead of the first half, 29-23. Georgia Tech then held the lead the rest of the stanza.

Elder had nine points to lead all scorers through the first 20 minutes, while Coleman Collins and Dixon each had seven to pace Virginia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets, who lost by 22 to North Carolina in January, have won three tournament titles, with the last coming in 1993.