Collegiate Times

Seth Greenberg celebrates after Tech's 4 point vicitory over the Maryland Terrapins. The Hokies trailed most of the way but stormed back in the final minutes to take the game.

The second half stared at a turtle's pace for both teams. Osby scored the half's first basket at the 16:33 mark on a lay-up and Hudson, fresh off of losing his breakfast, lunch and dinner, scored Tech's first points on a three-pointer from the right side 16 seconds later.

"It was tough," said Jeff Allen who tallied 14 points and as many rebounds. "We just had to fight through it and take care of the ball better and stuff like that."

The Terrapins used the full-court press to force Hokie turnovers, which enabled a 9-0 Maryland run, giving it its first double-digit lead, 43-32, since the 8:13 mark in the first half.

"It puts a lot of pressure on us," said A.D. Vassallo, who finished with 19 points on 5-11 shooting. "They're just trying to get us to shoot the ball as quick as we could so they can get the ball back and score. So, they try to speed the game up."

The Hokies would once again play the role of the comeback kid by amassing an 8-0 run to cut the Maryland lead to two, 47-45. But, once again, Tech didn't cash in on several promising opportunities on which it could have tied the game or even taken the lead.

"We didn't really get frustrated in the second half," Delaney said. "Usually, in the last couple games, we got frustrated a lot and I think that affected our game."

The Hokies took their first lead of the game on a Vassallo three-pointer with 3:32 remaining. The shot was part of a 16-3 Tech run highlighted by multiple three-pointers by Vassallo and Thorns.

"I felt like that was one of the biggest things of the game," Thorns said. "I got A.D. the ball ... Deron found me when he didn't have a shot and I shot with confidence and knocked it down."

The Terrapins scored baskets down the stretch, but they were not enough to overcome Tech's made free-throws that would seal the Hokie victory.

"We just had to hit them," Vassallo said. "There were no excuses. We've got to make the shots to win and everybody stepped up and made the free-throws they had to make."

The Hokies return to the hardwood Saturday afternoon against Georgia Tech in what will be the first of a three-game homestand. In fact, the Hokies won't hit the road again until their regular season finale on March 9 at Clemson.

Saturday's game against the Yellow Jackets is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off with the game to air on local Raycom affiliates.

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