A Dorenzo Hudson layup with five seconds remaining in Saturday afternoon’s game against Boston College won a game that the Hokies probably should have lost this past weekend.
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After Virginia Tech surrendered a lead it held for much of the game, Hudson’s layup ended a back-and-forth second half that gave the Hokies a much-needed 63-62 win, improving their Atlantic Coast Conference record to 2-2.
“You win a game like that, and it gives you a chance to have a special season,” said Tech head coach Seth Greenberg. “That’s what I told the guys. You need to win a game or two like that to do something special.”
Despite being out-shot 55 percent to 38.6 percent out-rebounded 29-23, the Hokies still managed to find a way to win Saturday.
And while their star player, junior guard Malcolm Delaney, made just four out of 15 shots and the Hokies lost nearly every battle in the box score, Greenberg couldn’t help but smile after the game.
“I think that winning cures a lot of ills,” he said. “You know, winning ... the food tastes better, practice is more fun, even though it’s raining, the sun is shining. I mean, that’s just the way it is.
“Am I that much smarter now because Dorenzo Hudson picked up a 50-50 ball and laid it in and we got a stop with five seconds to go? I don’t think so. I mean ... we got fortunate. We made a play.”
Tech entered halftime with a 38-29 lead after playing an impressive first period, but despite its first half dominance, the game was far from over.
In the second half, the Eagles came out strong, beginning with a 14-4 run, erasing the Hokies’ lead and giving BC a one-point edge with a little more than 13 minutes remaining.
The Hokies’ early second-half struggles were a product of one of Tech’s worst shooting slumps this season. After Hokies’ forward Victor Davila hit a layup with 17:07 remaining, the Hokies didn’t score a field goal for nearly seven more minutes.
A jumper from Jeff Allen with 10:26 remaining finally ended that slump, however, and put the Hokies back up by one.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, the two teams traded baskets, and it wasn’t until the final minute that the game was decided.
Two free throws from BC sophomore guard Reggie Jackson put the Eagles up by three with 29 seconds remaining, the Hokies responded.
In a must-score situation, Delaney quickly got to the line on the ensuing possession and hit both of his free throws, cutting the Eagles’ lead to just one.
On the ensuing inbounds, the Eagles got the ball in but couldn’t get it up the court as Terrell Bell and his teammates trapped Eagles’ junior guard Biko Paris alongside the baseline to force a jump ball.
With the possession arrow pointing in the Hokies’ direction, Tech got the ball back with just 21 seconds remaining for one final shot.
After the game, Hudson recalled the final half-minute of the thrilling win.
“We knew coming into the game it was going to take one stop, one 50-50 ball,” Hudson said.
As time ticked down, Delaney drove into the lane and handed the ball off to Davila in the post. Davila then went up for a shot, but before he could get it off, he lost possession and the Hokies looked to be all but finished.
Fortunately for the near 10,000 Tech fans that filled Cassell Coliseum, that wasn’t the case.
After losing the ball off of his knee, Davila scrambled for possession and got a little help from his teammate, Hudson.
“That’s what I was hoping for,” Hudson said. “If he was to put it up, I was going to try to tip it in.”
With five seconds remaining, Hudson retrieved the ball and put the Hokies up one with a layup — which would be the eventual game-winner.
“To try to do something special over the length of the season, you’ve got to get lucky,” Greenberg said.
Hudson led the Hokies in scoring Saturday, finishing with 18 points and four rebounds.
His layup was just the revenge the Hokies wanted after losing to the Eagles in virtually the exact same scenario last year.
On Jan. 31, 2009, the Eagles defeated the Hokies 67-66 in Massachusetts thanks to a last second score under the basket as well.
The difference between this year and last, Allen said, was defense.
“We just went out and played good defense,” he said. “There’s more desire this year. You know, last year we had a lot of desire, but you know, we weren’t tough enough as a team. This year, we’re tough enough as a team where we’re certainly not going to lose that game. That’s our mindset.”
Delaney credited defense for the win as well.
“We just went cold in the second half, but that’s when our defense sunk in,” Delaney said. “Last year, we went on shooting slumps, and we didn’t stop them so we didn’t have a backup plan. This year we have a backup plan.
“That’s the type of game we lost last year,” he continued. “We were in the same position at BC last year; they missed a shot and got a tip-in. That probably knocked us out of the (NCAA) tournament. It just shows how tough our team is that we can go and get a win like that.”
Delaney went down after the final play of the game, grabbing his shoulder and appearing to be in a lot of pain. After the game, however, he said he was fine. He felt confident he’d be ready for the next game at Virginia on Thursday.
“Yeah, I’m not hurt,” he said. “I wasn’t hurt, it was just the speed of the game.”
As Hokies fans will be relieved to hear Delaney is alright, Greenberg is relieved, at least for now.
“One play is the difference between being miserable and being able to breathe,” Greenberg said. “I can breathe tonight.”
The Hokies head to Charlottesville for their next game against the Cavaliers at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Tech’s in-state rival will enter the game near the top of the conference standings, with a 3-1 mark against ACC teams and a 12-5 overall record. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Net.