Virginia Tech-Maryland box score

Virginia Tech 67, Maryland 66

 

Jeff Allen canned a free throw with 12.4 seconds left and the Hokies survived as last-second Maryland 3-point attempt to notch a hard-fought 67-66 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Terrapins at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Tech has now registered victories in four of its past five games, moving to 10-6 overall, 1-1 in the league, on the season. Maryland, which played without starting guard Eric Hayes (injured ankle), fell to 10-7, 0-2 in the ACC.

The Hokies trailed by five points with 1:45 left in the game after Maryland's Bombale Osby made the first of two free-throw attempts. But Tech shut Maryland out the rest of the game and scored the final six points to record the win.

With the score tied at 66, a wide-open Allen got the ball in the post from teammate A.D. Vassallo, and Osby fouled him with 12.4 ticks to go to keep Allen from scoring. Following a timeout, Allen - a 69.4 percent free-throw shooter coming into the game - made the first one to give Tech a 67-66 lead, but missed the second one. After a mad scramble for the rebound, the Terrapins got the ball and called a timeout with nine seconds remaining.

After the timeout, Maryland point guard Greivis Vasquez brought the ball down the court, got a screen from James Gist, and launched an off-balance 3-pointer that was heavily challenged by Tech's Deron Washington. The ball bounced wildly off the rim and the Hokies' pulled down the rebound as time expired, preserving the win.

"I was guarding Gist, but Gist set the screen and me and Malcolm [Delaney, who was guarding Vasquez] switched," Washington said. "I saw him penetrate to the right and I knew he [Vasquez] was going to pull up. I contested it, but I didn't get too close because I didn't want him to flop and me get a foul. He ended up missing the shot and it was a long rebound, and fortunately, we got it."

The great defensive play capped a tremendous Tech rally. Trailing 66-61, the Hokies cut the Maryland lead to 66-63 on a short jumper by freshman point guard Hank Thorns with 1:32 to go. After Gist missed a contested lay-up on the Terrapins' next possession, the Hokies pushed the ball up the court and Thorns passed up a shot, making instead a nice pass to Delaney, who drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to tie the game with 52 seconds left.

Washington then made another great defensive play, stripping Gist on the Terrapins' next possession. Tech got the ball and pushed it up the court, which led to Allen being open in the post and setting up his free-throw attempts.

Allen, who only made 3-of-6 from the free-line for the game, paced Tech with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds, just missing his seventh double-double of the season. His winning free throw more than made up for his miss against Butler earlier this season. Allen missed a free throw with 17 seconds left in that game that would have given the Hokies the lead. Tech eventually lost in overtime.

"When I went to the line [against Maryland], I wasn't really thinking about anything," Allen said. "I know I could've won the Butler game if I had made the free throw. I wasn't going to let it happen twice."

The Hokies, who shot just 35 percent, also got 16 points and eight rebounds from Vassallo, and 13 points from Delaney. Gist led Maryland with 16 points, while Osby added 14 points and 12 rebounds.

In an evenly matched contest, both teams shot under 40 percent and both made 20 free throws. The Hokies grabbed three more rebounds and committed just one less turnover.

"Both teams played hard and both played better defensively than offensively," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "We just made one more play. In this league, it comes down to one play and we were fortunate to make one more play."

Tech now gets ready for an in-state battle with UVa. The Hokies travel to Charlottesville for a Wednesday night game at John Paul Jones Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.