ATLANTA, Ga. — The Wisconsin Badgers led Georgia Tech by as many as 20 points in the second half, but it was not enough to stop a last minute scoring surge by the Yellow Jackets who won 62-61.
The Badgers led for most of the game, as Travon Davis had a perfect night at the line where he was 6-6, leading the Badgers with 14 points and 7 assists. Kirk Penney also earned 14 points with a 6-12 effort from the field.
The Badgers entered the second half with a 12-point lead after Davis sank a three-pointer with three seconds left on the clock.
Three minutes into the second, Penney scored a lay-up off the breakaway, which Charlie Wills duplicated one minute later, giving the Badgers their largest lead of the game at 51-31 with 15:59 remaining in the game.
After a turnover by Mike Wilkinson and a fourth foul by Davis, the Yellow Jackets’ Tony Akins made two free throws, narrowing the Badger lead to nine at 61-52, with 3:25 remaining. The momentum pushed Georgia Tech on a 10-0 run that ended with Halston Lane sinking two free throws with 14 seconds remaining in the game to put his team up by one and clinch the victory. It was the Yellow Jackets’ first time leading since 9:04 in the first half.
Wilkinson was the only other Badger to make the double-digit scoring mark with 11 points, while the season’s leading scorer, Devin Harris, was held to only seven.
After nearly two weeks on the road, the Badgers return to the Kohl Center Saturday for their first home game of the season. They will try to earn their second win of the 2001-02 campaign as they take on the UW-Green Bay Phoenix. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.