TLANTA - Anthony Gurley's coming-out party was a pretty lonely affair for Wake Forest in last night's 75-61 loss to Georgia Tech in front of 9,191 at Alexander Coliseum.

Gurley, a freshman from Boston averaging 6.1 points a game, pumped in a career-high 24 points, but got way too little offensive support from his teammates for it to be in a winning cause. Senior Kyle Visser scored 15, two below his average, and no other Deacon scored more than seven.

"He got his opportunity to shine, and he took advantage of his opportunity," freshman L.D. Williams said of Gurley. "A.G. had a heck of a game.

"He just needed a little help."

Although the Deacons persevered through a sloppy first-half performance to cut the lead to four with eight minutes remaining, the Yellow Jackets reasserted their dominance by scoring nine straight. Wake Forest had no answer for freshman Javaris Crittenton, who scored Georgia Tech's final eight points to finish with 22.

Thaddeus Young, another impressive freshman, added 17 as Georgia Tech improved to 18-9 and 6-7 in the ACC with its fifth win in six games. Wake Forest, which had a two game-wining streak snapped, fell to 13-14 and 4-10.

Crittenton also contributed nine assists and turned the ball over three times in 35 impressive minutes. Crittenton, a recruiting target of Wake Forest during his career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, is averaging 14.6 points and 5.5 assists.

Over his past six games he has averaged 20 points.

"I've always thought he was a terrific player, especially here," Coach Skip Prosser of Wake Forest said. "We recruited him very hard. He's a very, very good kid from a wonderful family.

"You don't have to sell me on Javaris Crittenton. I'm already a fan."

Crittenton struggled against freshman Ish Smith earlier this season in Winston-Salem, where he had eight points and five turnovers while Smith finished with 10 points, four assists and two turnovers. But Smith was saddled by foul trouble much of last night, picking up his second personal with eight minutes left in the first half, his third with 13.45 remaining and his fourth less than two minutes later.

He fouled out with 1:24 left, having contributed just two points. He did dish out seven assists while committing two turnovers.

"He's a heck of a player," Smith said of Crittenton. "He probably had this marked on his schedule after the game he had (in Winston-Salem).

"You know how they say freshmen point guards are this and this and this, and I'm sure he said he wasn't going to allow me to get the best of him this time."

Crittenton, at 6-5, 198, is a powerful point guard, so powerful that Prosser turned the defensive assignment over to Williams, a 6-4, 210-pound wing.

"He was killing us," Prosser said. "So we were in the nothing-to-lose category there."

But that only left the Deacons more vulnerable inside on a night the Yellow Jackets scored 42 points from close range.

Gurley did most of his damage from long range, hitting four of five 3-point attempts to exceed his previous career high by nine points. He made eight of 11 from the floor in 31 minutes, nine more than he had played in any of his first 26 games.

"I guess it was just one of those nights," Gurley said. "Everybody has their night.

"I scored my first basket and that gave me a little confidence in the game."

Gurley's minutes became available when Harvey Hale, the starting wing guard, picked up two fouls in the first seven minutes. Hale, after scoring 20 points in Saturday's victory over Miami, missed all five shots from the floor and finished with one point in nine minutes.

The dramatic swing in production has been typical all season for the Deacons, who are getting 17.3 points a game from Visser and no more than 8.5 from anyone else.

Wake Forest is on the verge of finishing its first season in the modern era with only one player averaging double figures in scoring.

"That's been a season-long issue," Prosser said. "We had guys who had 20 last game that didn't dent (tonight).

"That's sort of been us. So it has indeed been frustrating."

Prosser bemoaned his team's ragged play in the first half, when the Deacons shot 39 percent from the floor, made just three of 12 free throws, committed 10 turnovers and fell behind by as many as 17 points (36-19).

But Gurley came off the bench to hit two straight 3-pointers early in the second half, sparking the Deacons' best stretch of the game. Down by 12 with 10 1/2 minutes remaining, they scored eight straight to slice the lead to 56-52 before Coach Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech called time with 8:02 remaining.

Whatever Hewitt said worked. Ra'Sean Dickey sank a baseline jumper, sparking a 9-0 Georgia Tech run that effectively settled the outcome.

For the game, the Yellow Jackets shot 49 percent, outrebounded Wake Forest 36-27 and scored 14 second-chance points. Jeremis Smith, a 6-8, 236-pound power forward, was a force under the basket and finished with nine rebounds.

"Really, I think it was just defense," freshman Jamie Skeen of Wake Forest said after managing just three rebounds in 29 minutes. "We've got to box out and keep people off the boards. Part of that was my fault. Most of it was my fault.

"Definitely I've got to get stronger and get in the weight room so I can get some people off the boards."