Blacksburg, VA -- Bryan Randall's stick back of his own missed free throw with 22 seconds left gave the Hokies a much-needed and tougher than expected Big East win over last-place St. John's, 54-53. With the win and a loss by the Miami Hurricanes to Providence, the Hokies (11-12, 4-8 Big East) move into 11th place in the Big East, bringing them one step closer to their team goal of making the Big East Tournament.

With 26 seconds to go and the Hokies trailing 53-51, Randall was fouled and went to the free throw line for a one-and-one. He hit the first free throw but missed the second one long, and Bryant Matthews, who led the Hokies with 12 points on the night, tipped the rebound but missed it. The ball caromed off to Randall, who flipped it in underhanded with 22 seconds to go. The ball bounced around the rim before falling through, giving Tech the 54-53 lead.

St. John's (6-17, 1-11) brought the ball down the floor, and the Red Storm's Daryll Hill, who was brilliant in scoring 27 points on the night, got his pocket picked by Zabian Dowdell. Dowdell tossed the ball to Matthews, who was fouled with 13 seconds to go.

Matthews missed the front end of the one-and-one, capping a horrid 6-15 (40%) night from the line by the Hokies. Hill brought the ball down the floor, and Tech's Markus Sailes batted it off of Hill's leg, out of bounds with five seconds to go. At first, the referees called the ball out of bounds on Sailes, but after a brief conference, reversed their call and gave the ball to Tech, sending St. John's interim coach Kevin Clark into a frenzy.

Clark settled down, and it turned out to be a moot point anyway, as Sailes turned the ball back over when he ran down the sideline as he was inbounding the ball. Sailes was whistled for the traveling violation, and St. John's had one last shot, with five seconds to go. They got the ball to Hill, who missed a heavily contested 18-footer, and a St. John's tip at the buzzer went awry.

The game turned out to be tougher than Hokie fans anticipated, as Tech was facing a St. John's team that has been devastated by numerous player dismissals and the firing of former coach Mike Jarvis on December 19th. But Hill created major problems for the Hokies, shredding Tech's zone defense for 18 first half points, including 3-6 three-point shooting. The Red Storm took a 14-7 lead five minutes into the game, behind 9 points from Hill, and led 29-21 at half time.

Meanwhile, the Hokies struggled with St. John's zone defense, hitting just 2-10 three-pointers in the first half. When they went inside, VT was confronted by 7-foot, 3-inch Curtis Johnson, who had two blocks and altered numerous shots.

In the second half, Tech battled back but still trailed 38-34 when Matthews sat down with four fouls. The Hokies went on a 14-5 run with Matthews on the bench. Randall, who scored all of his career-high nine points in the second half, hit two three-pointers in the run, which ended when Allen Calloway made a layup off an offensive rebound to put VT up 47-43 with 7:25 to go.

St. John's went on a 10-4 run, taking a 53-51 lead with 46 seconds to go on a layup by Kyle Cuffe (13 points), setting up Randall's heroics.

Tech's next game is at Boston College (17-8, 6-6), Wednesday at 7:30.

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