November 20, 2000

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech Hokies (1-1) men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to the William & Mary Tribe (2-0) Monday night. After trailing most of the game, Tech had its chance to win the game, but Brian Brown's follow-up lay-up in the final second of play buried the Hokies, 48-46.

The Hokies were lead by junior forward Dennis Mims (Morganton, N.C.) who scored his 11th career double-double, his second straight in as many games. Mims' 13 rebounds led all players and his 11 points were tops for the Hokies. Freshman Carlos Dixon (China Grove, N.C.) was second on the team in scoring with nine points.

The Tribe's leading scorer in the game was Jim Moran. Moran's 14 points lead all scorers on the night and he also grabbed eight rebounds. Close behind Moran was Sherman Rivers. Rivers played all but one minute in the contest and scored 14 points while pulling down six rebounds.

The Hokie trailed the Tribe 26-24 at the half and only lead once in the second half when Tech forward Jon Smith (Dunbar, W.Va.) hit one out of two free throws to give the Hokies a 40-39 advantage at the 6:45 mark in the second half.

The Tribe upped the lead to three when Rivers hit a tough running shot in the lane. Dixon would tie the game up at the 1:37 mark when he would connect on his second three pointer of the night. Tech would have its opportunity to take the lead, but failed to connect. William & Mary gained possession of the ball with eight seconds remaining and converted on a last second lay-in by Brown. Brown had seven points on the night.

Both the Hokies and the Tribe shot below 33% on the night, with the Tribe shooting 31% and Tech shooting 32%. The Hokies only attempted 18 shots in the first period while William & Mary had 29 attempts, 19 of them coming from three-point range. The Tribe out rebounded the Hokies, 38 to 33. Sixteen of William & Mary's rebounds came on offense, while the Hokie only had 10.

The Hokies will be back in action Friday when they play host to intrastate rivals, Virginia at 7 p.m.

Wiliam & Mary    26    22  -  48
Virginia Tech    24    22  -  46