IOWA CITY, Iowa, March 24 (UPI) -- B. J. Elder's jumper in the closing seconds lifted Georgia Tech to a 79-78 victory over Iowa Monday night for a place in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
The loss denied Iowa (17-14) a matchup with Texas Tech, which Georgia Tech will meet instead. That would have pitted Iowa Coach Steve Alford against Bob Knight, his former coach at Indiana. The relationship between Alford and Knight deteriorated when both were coaching in the Big Ten Conference.
The Hawkeyes, who trailed by 18 points in the first half, took a 78-77 lead on Chauncey Leslie's layup with 24 seconds left. Leslie scored a career-high 27 points.
Georgia Tech (16-14) called a timeout with six seconds to go and Elder was able to get open and nail his jumper for the lead.
The Yellow Jackets, who start three freshmen, won for only the second time in 12 road games.
