LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As Louisville guard Damion Lee stepped to the foul line for the biggest free throws of his season Tuesday night, he treated them as he would any other.
"I was not nervous," he said.
Lee canned both ends of a one-and-one with 10.7 seconds left, Georgia Tech guard Adam Smith missed a potential game-tying 3 just before the final horn blared and the No. 11 Cardinals kept their hopes alive for a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title with a 56-53 verdict at KFC Yum! Center.
In winning an unartistic game that saw both teams shoot below 37 percent from the field, Louisville (23-7, 12-5) overcame 2-of-17 3-point shooting and getting outrebounded 42-35 with its normally sound defense and clutch foul shooting.
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If the Cardinals win their season finale on Saturday night at Virginia and if North Carolina and Miami lose one more conference game, they'll earn a tie for first place.
That's all they'd get, too, as school administrators declared them ineligible for postseason play last month after determining recruiting violations were committed from 2010 to 2014.
With that as a backdrop, Louisville coach Rick Pitino figured his team might struggle to score early on an emotional night.
"Everything that I thought would happen did happen," he said. "I thought the seniors (Lee and guard Trey Lewis) would be nervous and take quick shots. But they settled down, and I kept telling them one good run would win the game."
That run happened midway through the second half. Tied at 34, the Cardinals gained separation from the surging Yellow Jackets with a 13-2 surge fueled by a Lee 3-pointer, the team's first after missing 10 consecutive from distance.
When Lewis drove the lane in transition and scored on a scoop shot with 8:48 left, Louisville owned an 11-point lead and the sellout crowd of 22,043 was in full roar.
But someone forgot to distribute the memo to Georgia Tech that it was supposed to expire meekly. Despite a lengthy scoring drought, the Yellow Jackets came alive late, pulling within 52-49 on a putback by forward Charles Mitchell with 1:29 remaining.
Georgia Tech then created two clean 3-point looks for Smith in the final minute, but he misfired on both. After the Yellow Jackets gave three fouls to put the Cardinals in the bonus, center Chinanu Onuaku swished two underhanded free throws with 30.9 seconds left for a 54-49 edge.
A 46.7 percent foul shooter last season, Onuaku has improved to 59.3 with the style made famous by Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry.
"It takes courage to change the way you shoot free throws," Pitino said of Onuaku, "and he helped ice it for us."
Onuaku's shots came in really handy when Georgia Tech picked up a four-point play. Guard Marcus Georges-Hunt made two foul shots after a flagrant-1 foul on backup forward Ray Spalding, and Smith's drive with 12.2 ticks left made it a one-point game.
However, the last of Lee's 14 points and Smith's final miss under duress assured that Louisville's Senior Night would not end in somber fashion.
"With all the stuff they have going on here, you have to give credit to them," Yellow Jackets coach Brian Gregory said of the Cardinals. "We were down three and got two really good looks. You can live with that."
Onuaku produced 17 points and 11 rebounds, his 11th double-double of the season. Guard Quentin Snider, a starter who came off the bench so that Lewis could start his last home game, finished with 11 points.
Mitchell bagged 15 points and 12 rebounds for Georgia Tech (17-13, 7-10), whose slim hopes of an at-large NCAA Tournament bid likely expired with just its second loss in seven games. Smith added 12 points, but Georges-Hunt had only nine on 3-of-14 shooting from the field, finishing eight points below his team-high average.
In a crowded locker room, Lee, who scored his 2,000th career point in the second half, talked about the fans and the atmosphere.
"It was amazing," he said. "The feeling, the love they have for us. Knowing that everyone came out for us tonight was just amazing."
NOTES: Louisville G Trey Lewis scored his 1,500th career point in Saturday's loss at Miami. ... Georgia Tech's four-game winning streak against ACC teams is its longest since the 2001-02 season. ... The Cardinals are 17-1 in their last 18 Senior Night games, including 14-1 under coach Rick Pitino.
