February 6, 2002

Tech's Carlos Dixon buried a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to lift the Hokies past Boston College 76-73 in front of 3,781 fans at Cassell Coliseum and to snap the Hokies' 10-game losing streak.

The Hokies improved to 7-15 overall and 1-9 in the BIG EAST. The win also snaps Tech's 18-game BIG EAST losing streak dating back to last season and insures that the Hokies will not hold the dubious record of 21 consecutive losses held by Miami.

"I'd like to commend our team," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "They've continued to work hard even though nothing has come easy. But we've continued to try and do the things necessary and tonight we finally did those things. This was a great team effort and win against a good BC team."

BC (15-7, 4-5) led by 10, 64-54, with seven minutes left after Troy Bell drained two free throws. But Tech responded with an 11-0 run to get back in the game. The Hokies took the lead on Terry Taylor's basket with 4:38 left.

The lead changed hands four times until Taylor gave the Hokies a 73-72 lead with 1:21 remaining. The two teams traded fruitless possessions before Uka Agbai hit a free throw with 36.3 seconds left in the game to tie things at 73.

After a Tech timeout, the Hokies held the ball until the final seconds. Brian Chase launched an errant 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds to go, but fortunately for the Hokies, the ball went out of bounds off BC's Brian Ross, giving Tech another chance.

BC called a timeout to set up its defense, which helped the Hokies because Tech had no timeouts. Thus, Stokes and his staff came up with a play in which Dixon came off a Taylor screen. That freed Dixon for the jumper in the corner.

"That's the play we drew up," Stokes said. "We had our best guy screening and the guy we wanted shooting it."

"I knew it was good," Dixon said. "That's what you live for. That's the situation I want to be in. Luckily, I got open."

BC called another timeout after Dixon's 3-pointer. But the Eagles' in-bounds pass went astray and Tech's students stormed the floor.

Dixon led the Hokies with 19 points. Carlton Carter added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Taylor finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Bell led the Eagles with 17 points, but on just 5-of-19 from the floor.

"Having that goose egg is never good," Carter said. "This feels so good. Now that we've got one, maybe we can get two or three."

Tech gets its next chance on Saturday when the Hokies travel to Providence to meet the Friars. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.