Hokies lose in double OT
Mark Berman back at Tech, where the Hokies lost a heart-breaker to Maryland, 104-100 in double OT.
“It was a heck of a game,” Seth Greenberg said. “It was like a prizefight, punches and counterpunches, teams getting knocked down and getting right back up. I can’t fault our kids in any way shape or form. They couldn’t have played any harder. We couldn’t have been any more resilient. They did a lot of really, really good things. It’s one play.”
Tech lost its 3rd straight game, falling to 21-7, 8-6.
“We’re a very good basketball team. We lost on one play,” Seth said. “The real test of our character will be on Wednesday. Everyone’s going to say, well, they’ve lost three in a row. We played our tails off at Duke. We didn’t play well against what I think is a much-improved BC team, and we played our tails off today.”
This would have been a big boost to Tech’s NCAA tourney resume if Tech had won. Now they are just 2-4 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI.
Terrell Bell stole the ball with Tech down 80-77. After Tech called two timeouts with 18 seconds left in regulation, Dorenzo Hudson inbounded the ball to JT, who made the 2nd trey of his VT career to tie the score at 80 with 15.1 seconds left.
“We set up an elevator play,” Seth said. “Most times against defense, when you bring a guy like Delaney off a screen, the guy that’s most open is the guy on the furthest side of the court. … He flipped out and he had good room and rhythm and he knocked down the shot. It was either he or Jeff depending on who showed on the screen. …. When Malcolm came off the screen they stepped and showed and we widened out and made a good decision.”
Eric Hayes made a jumper to give Maryland the lead, but Malcolm Delaney answered with a layup with 0,9 seconds left to tie the score at 82 and force OT.
Bell made a huge trey to give VT an 89-87 lead with 55.9 seconds left in the first OT. But Hayes answered with two free throws, and Delaney and Greivis Vasquez each missed a shot. Time for a 2nd OT.
Maryland scored the first 4 points of the second OT and led the rest of the way.
Delaney missed two free throws that would have tied the score with 39.5 seconds left.
Still, Tech had a shot. Hayes made just one of two free throws to extend the lead to 102-100 with 15.2 seconds left, and Jeff Allen got the rebound.
But Delaney was guarded and dished to Erick Green, who missed a trey with 3 seconds to go.
“We just wanted to attack,” Seth said. Delaney “got stopped. …. He’s going to have to pitch it out, and Erick got a good look. Erick makes that shot in practice.”
Vasquez had 41 points and five 3-pointers. Sean Mosley had 17 points.
Delaney had 27 points and Hudson 21. Jeff had 25 points and 15 boards. Bell had 10 points and nine boards. JT had 15 points.
Much more on the game in Sun paper and online Sun
February 27, 2010 - 11:03 PM
… Hey Chokies, you gotta make your FREE throws…
Cannot fault the effort but mental mistakes killed them. Vasquez made 2 steals for baskets when the Tech telegraphed the pass out front. Green lost the dribble out front which resulted in a basket and Allen steals the ball and tries to dribble the length of the floor and loses it. Pass it to a guard Jeff. That’s 8 points. Maryland shoots 100% from the foul line in OT and Tech doesn’t. That’s the difference in the game and the difference between an NCAA & NIT team. Greenberg talks defense but Vasquez scores 33 of his 41 points in the second half. He was killing Delaney on screens, outrunning him and rubbing him off on Tech players. I thought Bell was the best defender. Surely he could have come up with something to stop him. Best offensive effort of the year for Tech and all for naught.
Sooo frustrating! You’re right, MENTAL mistakes kills this team. Hey Allen, you are no ball handler, and MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS! Hey team, PROTECT THE BALL, Delaney, be a leader and MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS. Definitely can’t fault the effort but this team is at times its own worst enemy. Certainly it was Saturday in OT. Another promising season ending up in the NIT.
On a positive note…at least we don’t rely on 1 person to score. We have done a much better job of sharing the ball, and getting multiple people scoring. Maryland will surely struggle next year without their golden boy Vazquez.
for the last three years vt. have had the team to be and the ncaa tournament but you must have a leader and i am not talking the players if your head coach choke the rest of the team choke vt. have the best 7 player. but dont have the right coach with greenburg. you will never win with a faker p.s. i know he will have one of his friends to write back under cover. go hank love vt.