Collegiate Times

Erick Green (#11) shoots the ball over Garrius Adams (#25).

The Hokies picked up a 72-68 victory over Miami in a hard-fought game Sunday evening at Cassell Coliseum.

While the Hokies improve to 14-6 overall and 4-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the loss stretches the Hurricanes losing streak to four games.

The Hurricanes have lost those games by a combined margin of 11 points.

“That’s a really good win, that’s a very good basketball team,” said Tech head coach Seth Greenberg.

While Miami never led past the 15:23 mark in the first half, they pushed the Hokies to the brink in the final minutes.

With 3:14 left in the game and a 62-58 tech lead, sophomore guard Erick Green got a 10-second violation called for failure to get the ball to midcourt in time. This was pure carelessness because nobody was guarding him.

On the Hurricane’s ensuing possession, Garrius Adams hit a three-pointer to cut the Hokies lead to 62-61.

Green responded by nailing a mid-range jump shot, in addition to getting fouled on the play.

After his free-throw make, the Hokies had a 65-61 advantage.

“It’s good for him to make shots like that in a game like this,” said Malcolm Delaney.

With 1:29 remaining, Adams hit another three-pointer for the Hurricanes, bringing them within 70-68.

Delaney split a pair of free-throws to give the Hokies a 71-68 lead, but Miami had the ball with 16.5 seconds to play.

Adams took the final shot for the Hurricanes, a three that deflected off the side of the rim to seal the Hokies victory.

Delaney and Green, who shot a combined 6-26 from the field in the Hokies loss to Georgia Tech, improved that margin today.

Delaney finished 4-10 for 14 points while Green shot 5-12 for 15 points.

However, forward Jeff Allen arguably had the best game for the Hokies as he tallied 18 points along with 11 rebounds.

“Jeff Allen was a beast. We did a good job getting him the ball and he did a good job finishing plays,” Greenberg said.

“Our team doesn’t care who scores the ball most, we just want to win games,” Delaney added.

The undersized Hokies did a good job containing Miami’s starting big men to a total of just 10 points.

Tech heads to Raleigh, North Carolina to face the struggling NC State Wolfpack (12-9, 2-5) on Wednesday.

“There are going to be some tough games, but we have to pull them out,” Green said.

A version of this article appeared in the Jan 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.