March 16, 2007

Bos Score

Virginia Tech 54, Illinois 52

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite trailing by as many as 12 points with a little over eight minutes to play, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team rallied and scored the final 12 points of the game en route to a hard-fought 54-52 victory over Illinois in a first-round NCAA Tournament game played Friday night at Nationwide Arena.

Tech won its first NCAA Tournament game since knocking off Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1996 in a first-round game played at Reunion Arena in Dallas. The Hokies improved to 22-11 overall on the season and advanced to the second round where they will meet the winner of the Southern Illinois-Holy Cross match-up that was played later Friday night on Sunday afternoon. Illinois closed the season with a 23-12 overall mark.

"I knew it was going to be ugly because both teams are offensively challenged, but I didn't know it was going to be this ugly," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "This was just another example of the resiliency shown by this team. Offensively, we squandered some opportunities, but we continued to defend and we extended our defense and were able to get some turnovers.

"This was just a great win for us. I'm proud we were able to fight through adversity. A year ago, we weren't able to do that. It's nice to see good things happen to these guys because they deserve it."

"Last March, we were at home sipping pina coladas and watching on TV and switching channels during the commercials and waiting for them to switch off the boring games," said Tech's Coleman Collins, who scored 13 points in this one. "That's the only experience we've had with this tournament in the past. To get our first win like this, it's a good feeling."

Tech trailed 52-42 after Illinois' Brian Randle scored with 4:27 left. But Deron Washington's 3-pointer with from the corner with 4:18 to go started the Hokies' game-ending surge. Washington scored eight points in that 12-0 run, including another 3-pointer and a jumper from inside of the free-throw line that he banked off the glass. That jumper gave Tech a 53-52 lead with 45.5 seconds left in the game.

The Hokies took a 54-52 lead when A.D. Vassallo make the second of two free-throw attempts with 23.1 seconds to go. Illinois called timeout with 17 seconds left to set up a final attempt, and Randle misfired on a 3-pointer with seven seconds to go. He got the rebound and was fouled by Washington with four ticks left.

Randle stepped up to the line and clanked the one-and-one. A wild scramble ensued for the rebound and Collins tied up Randle in a loose ball situation with under a second remaining. The possession arrow favored the Hokies, who inbounded the ball and ran out the clock for the victory.

"Guys were rolling around and scratching, trying to get it," Collins said of the final scramble for the ball. "Everyone was getting into it. It was fitting that the game ended on a jump ball because that's the kind of game it was. They gave us their best and we gave our best, and it was a fight. I'm just glad to be part of this and that we came out on the winning end."

Collins, much-maligned by the media the past three weeks, played outstanding in this one, with only mistake coming at the end of the first half when he missed a wide-open breakaway dunk. The senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., finished with 13 points, making just 2-of-4 from the floor, but 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. He added three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot, and played outstanding defense on Illinois center Shaun Pruitt, who finished with just six points and four boards. He was Illinois' second-leading scorer coming into the game.

"I thought he defended with a purpose," Greenberg said of Collins. "He was active and did a nice job of slipping some screens and getting easy baskets. He had that one follow-up [ a dunk]. But more importantly, he competed on the defensive end.

"Everyone deserves to have something good happen to them. The Illinois kids, they've been through so much. But to see the smile on our players' faces at the end of that game was really special. And especially Coleman, who's probably shouldered more criticism than anyone on our team. To see him have some success, that was really good."

Tech survived this one despite shooting just 35.7 percent from the floor against one of the nation's best defenses and despite getting pounded by 15 on the glass (37-22). The 54 points marked the fewest by Tech in an NCAA Tournament game and Tech's lowest output of the season, and the shooting percentage was the Hokies' third-worst of the year.

"They were the best defensive team I've played since I've been in college," Tech's Jamon Gordon said. "I was running down the court one time and I told Coach [Bruce] Weber [Illinois' coach] that I knew they were good defensively, but I didn't know they were this good.

"They're a great team. We were lucky to win that game, but sometimes, the ball will bounce your way."

Tech won because of its own defense and because of a shrewd decision by Greenberg late in the game. With under seven minutes remaining, Greenberg had his team start pressing and that resulted in numerous Illinois turnovers. The Fighting Illini turned the ball over 21 times in the game, including six times in the final seven minutes. And after scoring just two points in the first half off turnovers, Tech finished the game with 13.

The 52 points allowed by Tech were the second-fewest allowed by the Hokies in NCAA Tournament play.

"I thought we had a chance to make a run," Greenberg said. "But under seven [minutes], I knew we had to find a way to get it to five at the four-minute mark. So we started pressing. I'm not sure we sped them up, but we were able to get some turnovers."

Washington, the 6-foot-7 junior from New Orleans, led the Hokies with 14 points, hitting 5-of-10 from the floor - 3-of-3 from beyond the 3-point arc. Gordon added 10 points, seven assists and seven of the team's 11 steals. Zabian Dowdell finished with eight points - none in the second half.

Warren Carter led Illinois with 15 points, while Rich McBride scored 14. He canned four 3-pointers in the game.

UVa and Tennessee play in the first game on Sunday at Nationwide Arena, starting at 12:10. The Hokies will play either Southern Illinois or Holy Cross 30 minutes after the ending for that game. Tech lost to Southern Illinois at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., earlier this season.