|
Virginia Tech 86, Maryland 76 by Chris James, TechSideline.com, 3/5/05
The 86 points posted by the Hokies were their second-highest point total of the season, behind the 102 scored against Maryland-Eastern Shore. With the win, Tech finished the regular season 15-12 overall and 8-8 in conference play. The Hokies are guaranteed a first round bye in the ACC tournament and will play at 2 pm Friday afternoon on Raycom-Jefferson Pilot/ESPN2. If NC State loses Sunday against Wake Forest in Raleigh, the Hokies will be the #4 seed and will play #5 seed Georgia Tech. If NC State wins Sunday, the Hokies will be the #5 seed and will play #4 seed NC State. The Hokies celebrated the culmination of the career of Carlos Dixon, and Dixon responded by scoring 20 points, his second consecutive game of scoring 20 or more points. Dixon wasn't even the high scorer for the Hokies. Sophomore guard Jamon Gordon scored a career high 23 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Sophomore center Coleman Collins was the unsung hero of the game, finishing with his second double-double of the season, 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Despite the final score, this game, a hard-fought contest by two teams battling hard for postseason play, was in question until the final minute. The Hokies led for virtually the entire game, but Maryland always made a run to keep themselves in the game. Every time the Terps closed the gap, the Hokies responded and fought them off. Virginia Tech held control of the game for the entire first half. After John Gilchrist hit a layup to put the Terps up 2-0, the Hokies never trailed again. Tech went on a 8-0 run, prompting Maryland coach Gary Williams to use an early timeout. Williams would be forced to call three timeouts in the first half to stem Tech runs. For the remainder of the half, Maryland was never able to get over the hump. The Hokies led by as many as 10 points, and the Terps were forced to play catchup basketball. With Deron Washington’s dunk with 14 seconds remaining in the half, Tech went into the halftime break leading 45-37. The second half saw Maryland put a major scare into the Hokies. Carlos Dixon hit a jumper with 14:09 remaining to put Tech up 56-46, but the Terps responded with an 11-1 run, tying the game at 57 on a Nik Caner-Medley jumper with 10:07 remaining. Repeating the theme that ran throughout the game, the Hokies were able to answer, going on an 8-0 run of their own to take a 65-57 lead with 7:40 left. Maryland made one last run at the Hokies. James Gist, who scored 18 points for the Terrapins, hit two free throws to make the score 74-72 Hokies with 2:37 remaining. Tech responding by hitting eight free throws down the stretch, and capped the game off with a thunderous breakaway dunk by Jamon Gordon. Carlos Dixon capped his Virginia Tech career by hitting two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to put Tech up 86-73, and he went to the bench to a tremendous ovation by his teammates and the Hokie faithful. Mike Jones made a three-pointer in the final seconds to make the final score 86-76. The Hokies won this game by dominating a statistic that generally dooms them … rebounding. Tech outrebounded the Terps 45-33 and grabbed 19 offensive boards. Rebounding leaders for the Hokies were the aforementioned Collins with 15 and Deron Washington with 8. Tech also shot the ball well, going 32-70 (45.7%) from the field. The Hokies placed all five starters in double figures. VT also hit 7-14 shots from behind the arc, while Maryland only hit 5-18 three-point shots.
MARYLAND (76)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
T Garrison 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 3
J Gist 24 6-8 6-6 1-4 0 3 18
N Caner-Medley 36 4-12 4-6 1-2 1 4 12
J Gilchrist 35 4-10 3-4 1-6 7 2 11
C McCray 37 7-13 2-2 3-7 3 4 18
S Ledbetter 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 4 1 0
M Grinnon 7 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
M Jones 17 3-11 0-0 0-3 0 3 8
E Ibekwe 15 1-2 0-0 0-3 0 1 2
W Bowers 10 0-2 4-4 1-3 0 2 4
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-60 19-22 7-30 15 21 76
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.433, FT-.864. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (T Garrison 1-1, N Caner-Medley
0-2, J Gilchrist 0-3, C McCray 2-5, M Jones
2-7). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 5 (W
Bowers 2, J Gist 2, E Ibekwe). Turnovers: 15
(J Gilchrist 4, T Garrison 3, C McCray 3, N
Caner-Medley 2, S Ledbetter 2, J Gist).
Steals: 8 (C McCray 3, J Gilchrist 2, N
Caner-Medley, M Jones, J Gist).
VIRGINIA TECH (86)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
C Collins 36 7-13 0-0 6-15 2 1 14
Z Dowdell 39 4-15 3-4 2-3 4 1 13
D Washington 34 4-8 4-7 6-8 2 3 12
J Gordon 34 8-17 4-6 1-6 3 4 23
C Dixon 37 7-10 4-6 1-5 1 2 20
R Krabbendam 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
M Cooke 15 1-4 0-0 0-2 2 2 2
J King 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
C Tucker 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 32-70 15-23 16-39 14 14 86
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.457, FT-.652. 3-Point Goals:
7-14, .500 (Z Dowdell 2-7, J Gordon 3-4, C
Dixon 2-2, M Cooke 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6.
Blocked Shots: 5 (J Gordon 2, D Washington 2,
C Collins). Turnovers: 12 (C Dixon 5, Z
Dowdell 3, J Gordon 2, D Washington, R
Krabbendam). Steals: 8 (Z Dowdell 3, C Dixon
2, C Collins, J Gordon, D Washington).
-----------------------------------
MARYLAND 37 39 - 76
VIRGINIA TECH 45 41 - 86
-----------------------------------
Technical fouls: None. A: 9,847. Officials: Jamie
Luckie, Larry Rose, Mike Wood
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
