Dews pays his dues with buzzer beater

The Miami Hurricanes celebrate after sinking the winning shot at the buzzer to defeat #20 Georgia Tech.Lindsay Brown // The Miami Hurricane
The Miami Hurricanes celebrate after sinking the winning shot at the buzzer to defeat #20 Georgia Tech. Lindsay Brown // The Miami Hurricane

New jerseys. New attitude. New BankUnited Center hero as senior James Dews rocked the home crowd.

With the game on the line, Dews hit a baseline jumper as time expired to give the Miami Hurricanes (17-7, 3-7 ACC) a 64-62 victory over the No. 20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (17-7, 5-5).

“I drew the last play for Dews,” head coach Frank Haith said. “He was struggling all night but James is a senior. [In a] late game like that, I knew he would have the pose. I had confidence in him to make it.”

Dews missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 19 seconds and had a chance to redeem himself after Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert hit a game tying layup with nine seconds left.

On the next possession, Dews found himself shot faking two Yellow Jacket players and driving to hit a baseline jumper.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Dews, who scored six points and went over 1,000 career points with his jumper in the first half. “Coach had confidence in me. [Haith] pulled me aside and said ‘Win this game for us’ and that right there gave me a lot of confidence.”

Georgia Tech came back from a 14-point deficit and eventually tied the game before Dews hit the game winning shot.

The Canes have won five of the last six meetings over Georgia Tech including three straight at the BankUnited Center.

Senior forward Dwayne Collins was outstanding: He finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. His biggest points occurred when the Yellow Jackets were within two and Collins snatched down an offensive rebound and threw down a powerful dunk.

The Hurricanes now hit the road once again traveling to Clemson (17-7, 5-5) to face the Tigers Saturday at noon.

Lelan LeDoux may be contacted at lledoux@themiamihurricane.com.

Photos by Lindsay Brown // The Miami Hurricane

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