February 11, 2004

Box Score

Virginia Tech 80, Georgetown 65

 

The Virginia Tech Hokies placed all five starters in double figures and played solid defense again to notch their second consecutive BIG EAST victory, this time with an 80-65 hammering of Georgetown in front of 6,746 fans at Cassell Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Tech, which beat Providence a week ago, pulled to .500 on the season at 10-10, with a 3-6 mark in the BIG EAST. Georgetown fell to 13-7, 4-6 in the league.

"We gave them [Tech's players] some time to feel good about themselves," Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said, referring to the week off after the Providence win. "Everyone wants a couple of 'That-a-boys.' They got a couple of 'That-a-boys' and were like 'Man, this is fun. Let's try and do it again."

The Hokies never trailed, using a 12-3 run to take a 28-17 with five minutes left in the first half. During that run, Georgetown hit just one field goal in a little less than six minutes. The Hokies ended up taking a nine-point lead at halftime.

In the second half, Tech opened the half by hitting its first four shots, the last one coming on a Zabian Dowdell 3-pointer that gave the Hokies a 14-point lead. Tech led by as many as 17 and Georgetown never came closer than eight the rest of the game.

Tech held the Hoyas to just 42.3 percent shooting from the floor, and the Hokies forced 18 turnovers. Georgetown's only true offensive threat came in the form of sharp-shooting Gerald Riley, who scored a game-high 24 points and hit five 3-pointers. Tech also beat Georgetown on the boards, outrebounding the Hoyas 37-26.

"We didn't rebound at all and we didn't have the toughness to play the defense that you need to play to compete in this league," Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said. "We got off to a terrible start and we were throwing the ball around all over the place. We gave them a six- or seven-point lead early, and then every time we'd make a run, they get a second shot because we didn't box out or didn't want it enough.

"Even when [Bryant] Matthews was out of the game, we got outrebounded. You just can't win in this league doing that."

The Hokies won despite seeing standout Bryant Matthews sitting on the bench the majority of the game in foul trouble. Matthews tied his season low by playing just 24 minutes. Though he fouled out, he still finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his 11^th double-double of the season.

But Tech got contributions from the rest of the supporting cast on this night. Coleman Collins followed up his 21-point performance against Providence by scoring 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. Dowdell finished with 15 points and four assists, while Markus Sailes added 12 points and Jamon Gordon 11. As a team, the Hokies shot 54.9 percent from the floor.

"If this is as good as it gets," Greenberg said of the win. "then it's not very good. This doesn't mean we have things solved. We don't have them solved by a long shot. But at least we're starting to understand what it takes to compete and win at this level."

Tech takes its modest two-game winning streak on the road for its next game when the Hokies travel to Piscataway, N.J., for a Sunday afternoon game with Rutgers. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.