February 16, 2002

The old cliché states that one player does not make a team.

And while that may be true, it might also be added that one player certainly can make a heckuva lot of difference.

The Hokies found that out the hard way Saturday afternoon when St. John's one-man band of Marcus Hatten scored 31 points in helping St. John's hand the Hokies a 73-63 loss in front of 6,008 fans at Alumni Hall in Jamaica, N.Y.

With the loss, Tech fell to 8-17 overall on the season, with a 2-11 record in BIG EAST Conference play. St. John's is now 17-8, 7-6 in the BIG EAST.

Tech started out slow in this one, falling behind 16-5 at the start of the game. But the Hokies climbed back in it and cut the lead to one, 29-28 at halftime.

Tech, with a huge size advantage, started pounding it inside at the start of the second half. Terry Taylor and Carlton Carter combined to score the Hokies first 12 points of the half and Tech took a 40-39 lead on a bucket by Carter with 15:01 left in the game.

But after that, Tech went cold from the field and ended up shooting just 35.3 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes. St. John's scored the next seven points after Tech had taken the lead and never trailed again.

"We really didn't execute in the second half," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "And then Hatten got rolling and we didn't have an answer."

Hatten scored 17 of his 31 in the second half as the Red Storm shot 53.6 percent in the second half. For the game, Hatten made 10 of 17 field-goal attempts, including 5-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also dished out five assists and grabbed six rebounds in 40 minutes of action.

Carlos Dixon and Taylor paced Tech with 13 points each. Mibindo Dongo scored 11 points, while Carter finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 boards). Tech turned the ball over just 12 times and outrebounded St. John's 45-35, but the Hokies couldn't overcome their poor shooting.

Tech now has a week off before taking on Providence next Saturday in a pivotal BIG EAST match-up. The Hokies need a win over the Friars and then will need some help if they want to make the BIG EAST tournament.