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Miami knocks off No. 24 Georgia Tech

Dec 4, 2006 - 1:26 AM CORAL GABLES, Florida (Ticker) -- Miami was happy to jump into conference play.

Jack McClinton scored 22 points and Anthony Harris added 17 of his 21 in the second half as the Hurricanes jolted No. 24 Georgia Tech, 90-82, in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools.

Miami (5-3, 1-0 ACC) improved to 3-0 in conference openers since joining the league in 2004, with all the wins coming over ranked teams.

"Obviously it was a good win for us. It was a gutty win," Hurricanes coach Frank Haith said. "We had a lot of guys step up for us, and a lot of guys play in the game. We had a lot of guys foul out and we lose (center Anthony) King at the half. We just found a way to piece it together."

McClinton buried a 3-pointer to end the first half and give the Hurricanes a 39-37 lead, one they would not relinquish.

King re-aggravated a wrist injury in the first half but Harris helped picked up the slack with his season-high point total.

"Anthony Harris put a game out there, and it's pretty evident that when he can play at that level offensively we're a better basketball team," Haith said.

Brian Asbury had a follow shot and Harris connected from the arc to open the second half as Miami lengthened the advantage to 44-37.

Lewis Clinch and Ra'Sean Dickey tried to bring the Yellow Jackets (6-2, 0-1) back, scoring 11 points apiece in the second half. Yet, they were held off by the Hurricanes, who shot 59 percent (16-of-27) and hit five 3-pointers in the second half.

"You would think if you score 82 points on the road and only give up 14 offensive rebounds, you would come away with a win," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "They shot the ball very well. I don't think we guarded particularly well, especially off the dribble. We gave up 90 points so we deserved to lose."

Georgia Tech got within 77-75 with 3:20 left, but Dwyane Collins scored on back-to-back dunks to extend the lead back to six and Miami hit six straight free throws in the final 27 seconds.

McClinton was 10-for-10 at the stripe in scoring 20 points for the fifth straight game and sixth time this season.

"We stuck together and that's what we practice for," McClinton said. "We do a lot of situational stuff in practice where we might be down three points with little time left, so we were prepared to do it and we just executed and stuck it out for the win."

Clinch scored 22 points and Dickey and Javaris Crittenton added 19 apiece for the Yellow Jackets.