Gardner-Webb beats Georgia for first time 77-60

Updated Dec. 29, 2021 9:16 p.m. ET

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Jordan Sears, Lance Terry and Zion Williams scored 14 points apiece and Gardner-Webb secured its first victory over Georgia, 77-60, on Wednesday night.

Kareem Reid added 11 for Gardner-Webb (6-7), which had lost four previous meetings against the Bulldogs between 2002-16. The win was the first road victory this season for Gardner-Webb, which beat a Power Five team for the sixth time in coach Tim Craft's nine years. It was also the first win over an SEC team in Craft's tenure.

While Gardner-Webb had six players score nine or more points, Georgia (5-8) had three: Braelen Bridges with 17, Kario Oquendo 12 and Noah Baumann 11.

Gardner-Webb led by 13 at halftime, saw that lead briefly clipped to single digits early in the second half and then went up by as many as 21.

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Georgia went on a 9-0 run to close within 49-42 with 16 minutes remaining but missed its next seven shots and fell back by double figures for the remainder of the game.

Gardner-Webb outshot Georgia 49%-37% and made four more 3-pointers — Georgia was just 3 of 19 from the arc — and held edges in points in the paint plus bench and second-chance points. It also made all 12 of its free throws to 13 of 20 for Georgia.

Gardner-Webb went in front 18-8 in the first seven minutes after Georgia started 4 of 15 from the floor, missing its first six 3-point attempts. The Runnin' Bulldogs came out of a timeout with 8 1/2 minutes left and went on a 13-4 run to go up by 16 on their way to a 44-31 halftime lead.

The teams combined to go only 7 of 27 from 3-point range in the first half but Gardner-Webb scored 11 points off nine Georgia turnovers and outscored the hosts 24-18 in the paint.

Gardner-Webb has won five of its last six games.

Georgia lost its second straight, having fallen to East Tennessee State 86-84 a week ago, and have also lost at home to Wofford and George Mason. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play Texas A&M on Tuesday.

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