January 20, 2004

Notre Dame's inside-outside tandem of Chris Thomas and Torin Francis each tallied more than 20 points in handing the Virginia Tech Hokies a 74-63 loss in a BIG EAST game Tuesday night in front of 7,270 fans at Cassell Coliseum.

With the loss, Tech dropped to 8-7 on the season, 1-3 in the BIG EAST. Notre Dame snapped a two-game losing streak, improving to 9-5 overall, 3-2 in the league.

Tech trailed from the opening tap and never led. The Hokies found themselves down just four, 17-13 early late in the first half, but Notre Dame went on a 9-1 run to take a 12-point lead with about three minutes to go. The Irish ended up taking an eight-point lead into the locker room at the break.

In the second half, the Irish scored the first seven points and led by 15. With about three minutes to go, the Hokies went to a fullcourt press and cut the lead to seven, 59-52, on lay-up by Zabian Dowdell with 2:52 remaining. But the Irish hit 11-of-12 from the free-throw line down the stretch to preserve the win.

"I didn't think we were assertive and aggressive on the defensive end early," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "We were just playing. The last eight minutes, we were more assertive. We were out of it, but we made things happen at the end and that's a positive."

Thomas, a 6-foot-1 junior point guard, led the Irish with 23 points and five assists. Francis, a 6-10 sophomore center, scored 22 points and grabbed 16 boards. He hit 9-of-12 from the floor.

For the second straight game, the Hokies struggled from the floor, shooting just 35.4 percent from the floor. Bryant Matthews led Tech with 19 points and 11 boards, but he hit just six of 21 shots from the floor. Dowdell added 18 points on 7-of-19 from the floor. He grabbed five boards and dished out three assists.

The Hokies hit the road for their next BIG EAST game. Tech travels to Seton Hall this weekend for a game against the Pirates on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.