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Georgia Tech stuns Wake Forest on Shumpert's jumper

Jan 31, 2009 - 10:01 PM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Fresh off a win against the No. 1 team in the country, Wake Forest did not survive a letdown against the worst team in the ACC.

Iman Shumpert saw to that.

Shumpert's jumper with one second remaining lifted lowly Georgia Tech to its first conference win of the season, a 76-74 upset of the fourth-ranked Demon Deacons on Saturday.

It was just the second loss of the season for Wake Forest (17-2, 4-2 ACC), which was three days removed from Wednesday's thrilling 70-68 victory over top-ranked Duke. However, Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio did not believe that his players suffered a letdown in this one.

"I don't think so at all," Gaudio said. "We had a big win over (North) Carolina and then we went to Boston College and won. And we went to Clemson and won - I think (the loss) has a lot to do with Georgia Tech."

After squandering a 13-point second-half lead Wednesday, the Demon Deacons defeated the Blue Devils on James Johnson's last-second layup.

But less than 72 hours later, the Demon Deacons were victimized by the late-game heroics of Shumpert, a 6-4 freshman who has been one of the few bright spots this season for the Yellow Jackets (10-10, 1-6).

"He's growing up, he's a freshman," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "I told him that he was going to have the ball in his hands at the end of games. And early on, he was unsuccessful.

"But you don't stop going to a guy that you know has talent and courage. Today he made them, and hopefully this is a hump that he has crossed."

With Georgia Tech headed toward its sixth consecutive loss, Shumpert shook off his shooting slump to score the game's final four points and lift the Yellow Jackets to their fifth straight home victory over the Demon Deacons.

After forcing a shot-clock violation with 35 seconds remaining, Georgia Tech forged a 74-74 tie when Shumpert sank a jumper from the free-throw line with 20 seconds remaining.

Unable to get a good shot off, Wake Forest called for a timeout with just over eight seconds remaining. But the ensuing inbound pass slipped through Johnson's hands, giving the ball back to Georgia Tech.

"It's a credit to the defense," Gaudio said. "We went a little bit stagnant, and we were trying to go a little bit too much of one-on-one and not running our offense the way that we needed to on the road."

Although Georgia Tech benefited from huge efforts by Gani Lawal and Lewis Clinch, Hewitt gave the ball to Shumpert, who had scored just five points in the first 39 minutes of the game.

Shumpert, with Wake Forest star Jeff Teague guarding him closely, used a cross-over dribble to his right before pulling up and swishing a shot from just beyond the free-throw line to give Georgia Tech a 76-74 lead with one second left.

"I took what they gave me," Shumpert said. "I knew I could shoot over whoever they put on me. I'm taller than their guards."

Wake Forest's desperation inbound pass was intercepted, sealing Georgia Tech's third consecutive win over the Demon Deacons.

"It's great for the guys," Hewitt said. "You get to 0-6 (in the ACC) and you start to doubt yourself. That's been the biggest thing. We were playing poorly, and I kept telling them that they were doing all the right things."

Lawal finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and 11-of-14 from the line. Clinch scored 19 points and Alade Aminu added 10 points and 13 rebounds for Georgia Tech, which owned a 44-35 advantage on the glass.

Freshman Al-Farouq Aminu scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Teague added 16 points for Wake Forest.

The frenetic finish overshadowed a rare occurrence as the Aminu brothers became only the second set of siblings in ACC history to play on opposing teams in the same game.

"Until we play them again, at least Alade can talk a little junk now," Hewitt said. "He has trash-talking rights right now."

Despite facing a 30-20 deficit midway through the first half, the Yellow Jackets battled back thanks to Clinch, who scored 15 points in the opening 20 minutes.