Seton Hall 83, Virginia Tech 76
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 1/24/04
East Rutherford, NJ -- The Virginia Tech men gave Seton Hall fits but didn't quite have enough gas in the tank, falling by seven in a hotly-contested road game, 83-76. The Hokies were led by Bryant Matthews with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Harris added a career-high 15 points and Zabian Dowdell 14 for the Hokies.
VT (8-8, 1-4 Big East) trailed almost the entire game and fell behind by as much as 12 in the second half at 59-47, but rallied to within one point, down just 72-71 with 4:08 to go. But Seton Hall's J.R. Morris hit a three-pointer to boost the lead back to 75-71, and Seton Hall (13-4, 3-2) scored four more points to go up 79-71 with 1:18 to go, effectively finishing off the Hokies.
Dowdell hit four first-half three pointers to keep the Hokies close, 43-36 at half time. The Hokies went on a 7-2 run to open the second half, spurred by two dunks by freshman Coleman Collins, and Tech closed it to 45-43. Seton Hall then put a 14-4 run on VT to take their 59-47 lead with 14:41 to go.
The Hokies could have folded up, but they started their comeback, putting together runs of 10-4 and 10-3 to close it to 70-69 with 4:59 to go. The two teams battled back and forth for a couple of minutes, until Morris' big three-pointer put Seton Hall back in the driver's seat.
Bryan Randall was a spark plug off the Hokie bench, playing 24 minutes and totaling six points, six assists, three rebounds, one steal, and no turnovers. The Hokies entered the game as the Big East's worst free-throw shooting team at 61% but put up a tolerable showing from the line, going 17-of-24 (71%). Defense continues to be a problem though, as Seton Hall hit 30-of-56 (53.8%) from the field and 8-of-20 (40%) from three-point range.
The loss drops the Hokies into 13th place in the 14-team Big East, ahead of only St. John's (currently 0-6 in the conference). The top 12 teams in the conference will advance to the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden in March. Tech returns home and will host Connecticut (15-3, 3-1) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum. The game be televised. Click here for details and check local listings.
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Seton Hall 83, Virginia Tech 76
1/24/04, East Rutherford, NJ
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Virginia Tech................. 36 40 76
Miami......................... 43 40 83
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VIRGINIA TECH (8-8, 1-4)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
A Calloway 22 3-6 0-0 1-3 0 3 6
B Matthews 40 5-19 6-9 5-10 3 3 17
C Collins 22 3-7 0-0 0-1 1 2 6
Z Dowdell 31 4-10 2-2 0-4 3 1 14
M Sailes 29 2-6 3-4 1-3 2 4 8
B Randall 24 2-5 1-4 2-3 6 2 6
S Harris 28 5-9 3-3 2-3 1 4 15
P McCandies 4 1-1 2-2 0-2 0 2 4
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TOTALS 200 25-63 17-24 11-29 16 21 76
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Percentages: FG-.397, FT-.708. 3-Point Goals:
9-23, .391 (B Matthews 1-7, Z Dowdell 4-7, M
Sailes 1-2, B Randall 1-3, S Harris 2-4).
Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 3 (C Collins
2, B Matthews). Turnovers: 12 (Z Dowdell 6, S
Harris 2, C Collins 2, B Matthews, A
Calloway). Steals: 9 (B Matthews 6, A
Calloway, Z Dowdell, B Randall).
SETON HALL (13-4, 3-2)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
M Toney-El 15 1-5 0-0 1-6 1 5 2
A Sweet 35 3-8 0-2 3-8 3 3 6
K Whitney 36 5-11 8-11 1-6 0 4 18
A Barrett 38 7-12 1-2 0-1 7 3 18
J Allen 37 5-7 3-4 1-3 5 4 15
J Morris 28 8-12 3-4 2-9 2 2 21
D Copeland 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
D Fray 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
G Billmeier 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
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TOTALS 200 30-56 15-23 8-33 18 23 83
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Percentages: FG-.536, FT-.652. 3-Point Goals:
8-20, .400 (M Toney-El 0-2, A Sweet 0-2, A
Barrett 3-7, J Allen 2-4, J Morris 2-4, D
Copeland 1-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked
Shots: 3 (D Fray, J Morris, K Whitney).
Turnovers: 16 (A Barrett 5, K Whitney 3, J
Morris 2, A Sweet 2, G Billmeier 2, D Fray, J
Allen). Steals: 6 (K Whitney 2, A Barrett, J
Allen, G Billmeier, J Morris).
Technical fouls: None. A: 8,601. Officials: Jim
Burr, Michael Stephens, Pat Driscoll
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results