Virginia Tech topped Virginia in a 70-69 overtime thriller Wednesday. The basket at the buzzer provided not by junior standout A.D. Vassallo or freshman sensation Jeff Allen but by Deron Washington-- a slashing layup that gave the Hokies their first win in Charlottesville since 1968.
(okay--major caveat there--for years the Cavs and Hokies met off-campus at neutral sites, so naturally they couldn't win in Charlottesville because they didn't play there)
Big win for an overachieving Hokie team ravaged by graduation and the unexpected departure from freshman recruit Augustus Gilchrist; this scrappy bunch might just grind their way to 9 league wins-- and with the rest of the ACC looking rather middling, Virginia Tech could "little engine that could" their way into the NCAA's.
Tough loss for the Cavaliers--Dave Leitao's team drops to 0-2 in league play and hasn't looked good since a December 22nd win over Elon (last win over a BCS conference team came against Northwestern in November)...can Sean Singletary and company turn things around with 4 games over a 12 day span to end the month?
George Washington and American University both lost road conference games Wednesday...the Colonials were outscored 21-8 in the last 7:30 of regulation while the Eagles blew an 11 point halftime lead.
Minus the injured Travis King at point guard, GW's offense has been a hodge-podge this season and Wednesday was no different (10 assists to 15 turnovers, 1-10 three-point shooting). The Colonials are also still looking for their first road win of the year--and Karl Hobbs's crew plays 3 of 4 outside the district after Saturday's game with #20 Xavier.
Wednesday was more disappointing for AU--not only did they fall despite outrebounding the Bison by 15, the Eagles lost for the 8th straight time to a the Patriot League's gold standard. In a one-bid league, you need to beat the big dog--or at least shock them once in a while. This looked like a season where the Bison might be vulnerable (the perennial contenders are 7-9 overall) and instead of sneaking out of Lewisburg with a win, the Eagles have to refocus on playing for standings seperation--at 1-1 in the conference they're tied for 3rd in the league and three of their next four games come against schools AU is tied with in the standings.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment