Georgia Tech battles Nevada for Hawaii tournament title

It’s easy to have fun in Hawaii, and the experience certainly has been enjoyable for the Nevada and Georgia Tech basketball teams so far.

The Wolf Pack and Yellow Jackets hope to put an exclamation point on their trip to Honolulu on Sunday when they meet in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic.

Nevada (11-1) defeated Temple, 80-56, and TCU, 88-75, in the first two rounds of the event. Jarod Lucas led the team in scoring in both victories, as the senior guard is averaging 23.5 points in this tournament and a team-high 17.3 points on the season.

“Anytime you have a chance to play and potentially win a championship, that’s the whole goal,” Nevada coach Steve Alford said. “Nothing is set. We’ve got another 40 minutes we’ve gotta play pretty good basketball in. But it’s good to be in a championship, and fun preparing over the next 48 hours for that championship game.”

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech (8-3) is looking to capture its first in-season tournament title since winning the Preseason NIT in 2003. The Yellow Jackets defeated Hawaii 73-68 on Friday after slipping past UMass 73-70 the day before.

Baye Ndongo has averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds while shooting a combined 16 of 18 from the floor in the two games in the Diamond Head Classic. He took over down the stretch Friday after Hawaii had recovered from a 21-point deficit to take the lead with under five minutes to play.

“We just wanted the game. I guess we wanted it more than them,” Ndongo said. “I know the work we’re putting in during practice and we stuck on it. You saw the work.”

Miles Kelly, Georgia’s Tech’s leading scorer on the season at 15.2 points per game, has been relatively quiet in Honolulu with 21 total points on 7-of-22 shooting (1-of-9 from outside the arc) in the two contests.

The Yellow Jackets and Wolfpack have only met once previously — a five-point Georgia Tech victory in 2004.

—Field Level Media