NCAA Basketball: Grambling State Tigers earn biggest win in 20 years

The Grambling State Tigers get a last second tip-in to upset the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

The Grambling State Tigers earned its biggest victory in 20 seasons with a stunning 64-63 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Dec. 1. The Tigers victory snapped a 63-game losing streak to teams from the power six conferences per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

With eight seconds left, GSU lightening quick point guard Ivy Smith Jr. got to the bucket and threw up a wild off-balanced shot.  But Georgia Tech wasn’t able to secure the rebound as the ball deflected off the hands of Yellow Jackets freshman guard Curtis Haywood hands and into the basket.

“Man, what a finish; that’s all I can say. What a finish,” first-year Grambling State coach Donte Jackson said after the game via ESPN.com. “Somehow, some way we found a way to get lucky, and the basketball gods were with us today.”

The game-winning bucket was credited as an own basket.

Diontae Jones led the way for Grambling State with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jones, the team’s leading scorer (13.7), made 7-of-11 from the field including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. He has now scored in double-figures in three of his last five games.

Axel Mpayo contributed 14 points and eight caroms while Smith added 14 points along with six dimes and two steals for the Tigers (2-5).

After several first-half lead changes, Jones drained a three-pointer to give Grambling State a 25-23 lead heading into halftime. The Tigers kept up their intensity on the defensive end to start the second half, leading to a 22-8 spurt over the first 10 minutes to take a 47-31 lead.

Georgia Tech was able to battle back as freshman Jose Alvarado stepped up his production. Alvarado tallied 20 of his season-high 22 points in the second stanza. That included 11 straight points to get the Yellow Jackets (4-2) to within 58-52.

Alvarado’s fourth triple of the game gave Georgia Tech a 61-60 lead with 1:02 left. It was the Yellow Jackets first lead since 1:55 to go in the opening half. Alvarado a sank a pair of free throws to increase Tech’s lead to 63-60 about 20 seconds later.

But Smith responded by getting to the free throw line and sinking both shots before the ensuing chaos.

Alvarado made 6-of-12 shots, including 4-of-10 on three-pointers and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Tadric Jackson chipped in 18 points and seven rebounds for the Yellow Jackets. And Haywood finished with nine points, five caroms as well as five assists.

Grambling State was fantastic on defense holding Georgia Tech to 38.9 percent shooting (21-of-54) from the floor. The Tigers also scored 14 points off of the Yellow Jackets 13 turnovers. More importantly, GSU held a 24-20 advantage in points in the paint as they held GT’s senior center Ben Lammers to a season-low four points, on 1-of-7 shooting.

With the victory, Grambling State evens the all-time series at 1-1.