November 27, 2001

Virginia Tech rebounded from a disappointing loss at Old Dominion this past Saturday by drilling an amazing 15 3-pointers en route to a 90-62 blowout victory over East Carolina in front of 3,004 fans at Cassell Coliseum on Tuesday night.

With the win, Tech improved to 3-1 on the season, including a perfect 3-0 at home. ECU, picked to finished seventh in the American Division of Conference USA, lost its fourth straight and fell to 2-4.

Tech, which shot just 30 percent from the floor in an ugly loss to ODU, made 15 of its 33 3-point attempts, falling just one short of tying the school record of 16 set in a game against Marquette in 1989. The Hokies went into the game having made just 15 3-pointers the entire season.

"We came out and made some shots," said Carlos Dixon, who hit a team-high four 3-pointers and led the Hokies with 20 points. "All of us were clicking. We know we can shoot the ball. We just hadn't until tonight."

Tech jumped out to a 17-7 lead early in the game and seemed to be in command. But ECU went on a 17-4 run to take a 24-21 lead with less than eight minutes to go in the first half.

The lead exchanged hands for the next few minutes before the Hokies put the game away with two huge runs. The first one came at the end of the first half as Tech ended the half with a 14-3 run to take a 43-33 lead into the locker room. The Hokies hit 10 treys in the first half alone.

The second run came at the beginning of the second half. ECU scored the first point of the half on a free throw, but Tech scored the game's next 17 points and never looked back. The Hokies led by as many as 37 in the second half.

"I thought we really attacked the first five minutes of the second half," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "It was nice to see the ball go in the basket. We've got good shooters. I thought we had good shots at ODU, we just didn't make them."

Joe Hamilton tied a career high with 18 points off the bench for Tech and hit three 3-pointers. Bryant Matthews and Terry Taylor each scored 11 for the Hokies and Brian Chase finished with nine. Both Chase and Matthews hit three 3-pointers as well.

For the game, Tech shot 52.4 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Pirates 42-27. ECU, which shot 34.5 percent, was led by Jonathan Moore, who scored a game-high 21.

Tech's next game is Thursday night at Cassell Coliseum against Northeastern. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.