The game Sunday night against the “U” was a big one for VT. Right now we are a bubble team at best and if we want to get off the bubble winning at home is a must. The Hokies started the game off on a positive note with Terrell Bell draining a 3-pointer on Tech’s first possession. Bell ended the game with six points three rebounds and two assists. The Hokies led the majority of the first half and went on a 13 to 4 run to end the half to push the lead to 10 points. The run included two bank shot 3-pointers by Ty Garland, who finished the game with six points.
The Hokies had the lead the entire second half but just couldn’t put the Canes away. With four minutes to go in the game Garrius Adams hit a three to bring the Canes within four points, and a little over a minute later Adams hit another three. Tech had a one point lead with 2:56 remaining. Erick Green of the Hokies hit a jumper in the lane and was fouled. After hitting his free throw Tech had a four point lead again. Miami responded with a jumper from Durand Scott cutting the lead to just two. On Tech’s next possession MD23 nailed a big time three pushing the lead to five with 1:59 left on the clock. After Green hit a pair of free throws Garrius Adams of Miami came down and hit another three cutting the lead back to two with 1:29 left in the game. MD23 then hit 1 of 2 from the line leaving Miami a chance to tie with another three there was 0:16 on the clock. Garrius Adams missed his final three point attempt and the game ended with Bell hitting 1 of 2 free throws and the Hokies won the game 72-68.
At times in the second half the game was out of control and sloppy for the Hokies but a win is a win. It wasn’t pretty but they got the job done. Erick Green had a good night finishing with 15 points six assists after struggling in Atlanta the game before. MD23 chipped in 14 points four assists, and although the stat sheet suggests otherwise Victor Davila played extremely well he had nine points three rebounds. Davila would have had a few more points but he shot 3 of 9 from the charity stripe. Jeff Allen was the MVP of this game he had 18 points and 11 boards. This was his second double-double in a row. Allen could have scored more but Miami’s pesky zone limited his touches at times. Allen needs to continue his impressive play in order for the Hokies to be successful.
Miami was led in scoring by Durand Scott with 21 points he also had five assists. Scott is an amazing athlete hitting some mind boggling shots during this game. Malcolm Grant was also in double figures with 14 points and Garrius Adams also finished with 11 points hitting three 3-points in the final couple minutes of the game. And the big Reggie Johnson finished with just six points but had 10 rebounds.
Tech takes the road next and free throws and turnovers are keys to winning on the road and Tech shot awful from the line Sunday night no thanks to Davila missing six. He needs to get better from the line plain and simple. Next on tap for the Hokies is a trip to Raleigh to take on the Wolfpack Wednesday night at 7pm on ESPN2. It is crucial for Tech to pick up a few more road wins to get off the bubble, and this is a golden opportunity for them to do that. The Pack have not been playing well lately and we need to capitalize on that.
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