CHARLOTTESVILLE -- A 6-foot-11, 245-pounder with three rebounds in 28 minutes made for an unlikely hero Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena.

Offensively challenged Tunji Soroye scored the go-ahead basket on a stickback with 32 seconds remaining as 19th-ranked Virginia rallied to defeat Georgia Tech 75-69.

The Cavaliers trailed 69-62 before scoring the last 13 points of the game. Georgia Tech did not score over the final 3:40.

"I just told the team and my assistants, 'For the life of me, I'm not exactly sure what happened,'" second-year UVa coach Dave Leitao confessed to the media.

He did know that Virginia had captured its 10th ACC victory of the season, a level the Cavaliers have reached only once in the previous 25 seasons, when the 1994-1995 UVa team went 12-4 in league play.

"We did it with smoke and mirrors," Leitao said.

Virginia (19-8 overall, 10-4) has overcome larger deficits than it did Saturday, rallying for victories after trailing by 19 (Arizona), 14 (Clemson) and 13 (Duke).

Georgia Tech (18-10, 6-8) never led by more than seven, but the Yellow Jackets were mauling Virginia in the paint.

"I told [Georgia Tech coach] Paul [Hewitt] after the game that they really kicked our tails," Leitao said. "And they kicked our tails in a way that I'm used to having our team do to other people."

An early 3-point barrage enabled Virginia to take a 22-6 lead before Hewitt called a timeout with 12:28 remaining in the first half. From that point, Georgia Tech scored on 16 of its next 17 possessions in taking a 38-34 lead.

It was nothing fancy. The Yellow Jackets took high-percentage shots and, on the rare occasions when they missed, they'd get the rebound and keep shooting till the ball went in.

Little changed until the last 4 minutes.

The only reason the game was close was the play of UVa veteran guards J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary, who scored 23 consecutive points for the Cavaliers over a 22 minute, 6 second span.

"There was six-something left on the clock and I had just called a timeout," Leitao said. "I pounded each one of the three guys, other than Sean and J.R., and said, 'How many points do you have, how many rebounds do you have, how many stops have you made?'"

Jason Cain immediately responded with a drive to the basket, a contested dunk that somehow clattered through the basket, and a free throw for a three-point play.

After a 3-point shot by Reynolds, Soroye added another old-fashioned three-point play -- one of five by the Cavaliers in the second half.

At that point, Georgia Tech's lead was down to one, 62-61, but big man Thaddeus Young hit a 3-pointer from the corner, fellow freshman Javaris Crittenton added a pair of free throws and it looked as if the Yellow Jackets had regained the momentum.

"I'm not sure we could fight any harder than we did for about 37 or 38 minutes," said Hewitt, whose team had won five of six.

The key play, in Hewitt's eyes, came when Reynolds drove down the right side of the lane, drew contact and converted the three-point play that made it 69-67 with 2:45 left.

"We know, in that situation, [Reynolds and Singletary] are going to put their head down and go to the basket," he said. "We just jumped out of the way. Give them credit. They looked dead in the water with 3 minutes to go, and they summoned a lot of courage and came back."

Cain scored all seven of his points in the final 6:36, when he also had two rebounds and drew a foul, and Soroye scored all six of his points in the final 5:12, when he had two of his three rebounds. He had been scoring 1.7 points per game.

Soroye's go-ahead basket came after the Cavaliers had worked to set up Singletary for a 3-pointer from the left corner -- one of his few open looks of the half.

"It's like everybody was just standing there, watching to see if the ball went in, and nobody boxed out Tunji," said Singletary, who had 24 points.

Added Leitao, "Thank goodness Tunji can make a layup. ... Well, today he did."

Georgia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Smith 30 3-7 1-4 7 2 3 7

Young 33 5-10 3-4 6 3 2 15

Dickey 34 7-11 0-0 5 2 4 14

Crittenton 25 3-10 6-6 2 1 4 12

Morrow 19 2-7 0-0 2 0 1 5

West 23 1-3 0-0 4 3 3 2

Faye 9 1-2 2-2 0 0 0 5

Bell 13 1-1 0-0 2 1 2 2

Peacock 7 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0

Aminu 7 3-4 1-1 3 1 1 7

Totals 200 26-56 13-17 35 13 22 69

Virginia MP FG FT R A F PT

Diane 28 1-4 2-2 0 1 3 5

Cain 26 2-5 3-3 6 0 3 7

Soroye 28 2-2 2-3 3 0 3 6

Reynolds 38 9-17 4-4 4 2 2 25

Singletary 39 7-21 7-7 7 4 1 24

Harris 12 1-1 0-0 1 1 1 3

Tucker 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0

Joseph 18 2-4 0-0 1 0 3 5

Pattinella 9 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0

Totals 200 24-55 18-19 27 9 19 75

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Georgia Tech 38 31 -- 69

Virginia 34 41 -- 75

3-point goals: GT 4-11 (Young 2-3, Morrow 1-2, Faye 1-2, Crittenton 0-3, West 0-1), UVa 9-28 (Singletary 3-12, Reynolds 3-8, Diane 1-3, Joseph 1-3, Harris 1-1, Tucker 0-1).

Turnovers: FT 16 (Dickey, Crittenton 4), UVa 11 (Reynolds 5).

Blocked shots: GT 3 (Faye 2), UVa 3 (Soroye, Reynolds, Harris).

Steals: GT 7 (Dickey, Crittenton, Faye 2), UVa 8 (Reynolds 4).

Officials: Hess, Luckie, Ayers.

Attendance: 14,564.