“We were so bad in the first half. We had no energy. Defensively, there were 34 possessions, and they had 40 points. It wasn’t our offense. Defensively, we were not any good in the first half. We just had no juice to us,” Nagy said.

“I really talked to Grant and Justin at halftime to get us going and both did a great job in the second half. And, obviously, Cole showing up for us … boy, he was good tonight.”

Wright State (8-5) went on a 35-15 run to start the second half, including 11 points in a row from 11:32 to 9:15 to take a stunning 66-55 lead.

The Yellow Jackets (5-6) whittled away at the deficit and then scored seven straight points on five free throws and a put-back by All-ACC center Ben Lammers for a 77-75 lead with 2:38 left.

But Benzinger, standing five feet behind the 3-point arc, fired and connected to give Wright State a 78-77 edge with 2:14 to go.

“That was a big-time 3,” Nagy said.

Georgia Tech had a shot-clock violation. And Benzinger then missed a 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down, but Mitchell retrieved the rebound, and Gentry delivered a 3-pointer with 1:06 left for an 81-77 lead.

After a turnover, Mitchell made one of two foul shots for a 82-77 edge with 47 seconds left. The Yellow Jackets then cut the deficit to two, and Louden Love, a 40-percent free-throw shooter, was fouled with 12 seconds left. He made one of two for an 84-81 edge.

With a chance to tie, Georgia Tech freshman Jose Alvarado’s 3-pointer rimmed out, and Mitchell made the second of two foul shots with 5.9 seconds to go to seal the victory.

For Nagy, the difference was defense.

“In my opinion, we weren’t guarding like we can guard (in the first half),” Nagy said. “I told Justin, ‘You and Mark are the best defensive players I’ve had, and you’ve got to start playing like it.’”

Nagy’s 23-year coaching philosophy has been to play non-conference games near Christmas on the road, counting on a crowd without students and opposing players who are already thinking about going home for their holiday break. That might have been the case with Georgia Tech.

“It takes me more than one hand to count the number of high-major wins we’ve gotten right before Christmas,” Nagy said. “I’ll tell you, those kids come with their bags packed.”

But the Raiders certainly weren’t handed the win. They earned it.

“We ran the floor very well,” Nagy said. “Justin went down the floor once, and they didn’t even know he was there, and he shot a layup.

“It just helps to have Cole. Everett (Winchester) wasn’t feeling very good, so we couldn’t play him very many minutes, but we’re deeper now and we can play faster.

“The kids fought hard. … This is a good win for our program.”

THURSDAY'S GAME

UIC at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN3, 106.5