ATLANTA— Georgia Tech snapped a four-game losing streak with a 71-64 win over Virginia Tech on Wednesday night in McCamish Pavilion. The Jackets accomplished all this with leading scorer Lance Terry sidelined with the flu and three other rotation players with missing with lower body injuries.

Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire rolled with a six-man rotation for most of the game playing only Ryan Mutombo in double-digit minutes off the bench with 10 minutes played. Mutombo only played two minutes in the second half.

“No different than any game the last month, really proud of the guys’ effort. Maybe I’m a naïve coach, but I believe if we don’t become a prisoner of other people’s expectations we can run off some games. We have to be smart and in the first half, we played excellent basketball on both ends of the court. If it wasn’t for us giving up some threes and offensive rebounds we would’ve been up more,” Stoudamire said.

The Jackets improved to 9-11 on the season and 3-6 in ACC play. Virginia Tech fell to 8-10 and 3-4 in the ACC.

Junior forward Duncan Powell led all scorers with 23 points in 40 minutes along with six rebounds and two steals. He played down as well playing the three and the two spots. It was just his second start of the season.

“Duncan came in and he knocked down some jumpers and he was inserted late into the lineup with Lance not being here. Duncan played really well. I love him coming off the bench, it doesn’t matter it if is the first 30 seconds or minute, he gives us a spark. He ignited us and he brings something different. He is really good, the thing he doesn’t get credit for, defensively he is really good. He switches, he knows, he is kicking guys out when he sees a small guy on a big guy, he does a good job of switching up.”

Powell who was a big-time prospect out of high school before a serious knee injury is enjoying getting to play high-level basketball.

“Playing 40 minutes, three years ago, I never thought I’d play basketball again so it is a blessing to be out there again,” Powell said.

Sophomore forward Baye Ndongo had five steals to go with his 14 points and nine rebounds in a strong performance on both ends of the court.

Redshirt freshman Ibrahim Souare was big on the defensive end of the Jackets with several key loose ball rebounds and a critical block late in the game.

“I was happy for him and you can see him getting better,” Stoudamire said of Souare. “The expectation has been minimal, but he has to be better and you looked at the naked eye and weren’t at the arena seeing the blocked shot down the stretch and another time he drove for a loose ball, that energy the other guys’ fed off of.”

Guard Javian McCollum had 16 points but was 5-16 shooting, he did hit 5-6 from the line including some clutch late free throws for the Jackets.

Georgia Tech opened up strong despite all the injuries taking a 39-35 lead to the half behind 16 points from Duncan Powell. Tech shot 53.6 percent in the first half while The Hokies shot just 32.4 percent, but hung around thanks to 7-16 shooting from three. The Jackets also reversed trends with a fast start going up 13-4 in the opening six minutes of the game. The Jackets had 14 assists and just four turnovers in the first half.

The Jackets only had four assists in the second half and six turnovers in the half.

Only seven players played for the Jackets with Ryan Mutombo logging 10 minutes and Darrion Sutton playing only four minutes off the bench.

“We were playing guys heavy minutes and we had guys play a couple of minutes, Ryan and D Sutton, but our main guys did a great job of not only playing the game, but managing the game within the game. Nothing that put us in harm’s way and that made it easier to coach the game,” Stoudamire said.

The Hokies had three players in double figures, Tyler Johnson (14), Tobi Lawal (13) and Rodney Brown Jr. (10).

Georgia Tech jumped out early on the Hokies 11-4 on a thunderous dunk by Ibrahim Souare who also injured his wrist on the play. Tech led 22-15 at the first media timeout which didn’t come until 11:30 left in the half. The Hokies used an 8-0 run to tie the game at 26 going into the third media timeout with 7:18 left in the half. Tech took a 39-35 lead into the half.

The Hokies clawed back thanks to some Georgia Tech turnovers leading to a tie score at the first media timeout with 15:56 remaining. The Jackets used a 6-0 run to go back up 53-47 forcing a Mike Young timeout after the Hokies committed six fouls in four minutes resulting in multiple trips to the line for Georgia Tech. Tech used another 6-0 run to take a 59-51 lead into the third media timeout with 7:39 left. The Hokies pulled within two but Ndongo had a steal and basket to put the Jackets up four with 1:34 left in the game. After a Souare blocked shot, McCollum hit one of two free throws with 31 seconds left to put the Jackets up 69-62. Ndongo came up with a steal on the ensuing possession and McCollum added two more free throws to make it 71-62. Ben Hammond hit a layup for the final basket of the game.

Georgia Tech has six days off before returning to action on Tuesday night at Notre Dame for a 9 pm tipoff.