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Mark Berman back here at Boston College, where Virginia Tech beat BC 81-73 in OT.

I did not see this one coming. Tech was without Jeff Allen, had never won here and was coming off back-to-back double-digit losses. Tech was playing for 2nd time in less than 48 hours while BC had not played since last Saturday.

"Get a road win, that's a great thing," said JT Thompson, who had 14 points and 12 boards and a big steal while starting in Allen's place.

"We had a great practice yesterday. We went an hour and 15 minutes hard," coach Seth Greenberg said. "The second game in 3 days, if we wanted to make it an issue, it would've been an issue. But I told you guys after the Duke game it wasn't an issue. We were not going to build that in, just like we're not building that we're young in for the reason we're turning it over or we're going to lose game.

"We're not going to build in reasons why not. We're going to build in reasons why. From the second that Duke game ended, I didn't want to hear 36 hours. I didn't want to hear we don't have Jeff Allen."

Deron Washington (19 points) made a layup to give Tech a 63-61 lead with 4:27 left in regulation, but Tech left the door open for BC by making no baskets and making just three of six free throws the rest of regulation. Tech also had two of its 8 turnovers in that stretch.

BC's Rakim Sanders hit his only trey of the game to tie the score at 66 with 3.6 seconds left in regulation.

But Hank Thorns hit a trey to give Tech a 71-68 lead with 3:37 left in OT. Thorns added a layup and Washington scored to extend the lead to 73-68 with 1:36 left and the Hokies led the rest of the way.

BC's standout point guard, Tyrese Rice, had 27 points and four treys. But after making a 3 with 9:29 left in regulation, he had no baskets and made just two free throws the rest of the way. He had a big turnover late in regulation and missed two free throws during Tech's 7-0 run in OT.

"We were switching on the ball screens," Greenberg said. "We were switching on the chase cuts and we were trying to make it harder for him to get [the ball] back."

"Late in the second half they started leaving guys around the basket, so it made the lanes to the basket a lot harder to get to," Rice said. "We weren't running down the court as hard because we was a little tired. That played a part."

"I tried my best to deny him and not let him get the ball back because without him they don't really run offense as well," Thorns said. "I started to learn in the second half. I studied him his first half."

AD Vassallo had 14 points and 11 boards. Malcolm Delaney had 13 points. Thorns had 11 points.

Cheick Diakite had seven points and eight boards.

"He played a magnficent game," Greenberg said. "The reason he didn't go with him down the stretch, they went to a matchup zone and we wanted to be able to get a quicker player in the high post."

Tech's 8 turnovers were a refreshing change from turning it over more than 20 times vs. Ga Tech and Duke.Tech also outrebounded BC.

"The most important stat is 8 turnovers," Greenberg said. "The kids did a great job. ... To play small and still rebound the ball, to take care of the basketball, huge."

ACC assistant commissioner Karl Hicks said in a phone interview Friday that Tech was saddled with the “extreme" turnaround of a home game Thursday and a road game Saturday because ESPN wanted to air the Duke-Tech game on Thursday instead of Wednesday.

But why did Tech have to visit a team that had not played since BC lost at Virginia last Saturday? Even Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has remarked on the unfairness of that disparity.

“We certainly try to avoid that,” said Hicks, who is in charge of the ACC men’s basketball schedule. “But there’s so many things I’m trying to avoid. I can’t get them all.”

Back with more in Sunday's paper and with the online article Sunday.