Collegiate Times

Malcolm Delaney fires off a quick pass during the first half.

Seven scholarship players. No problem.

The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team rolled into the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday night with just seven scholarship players, yet left the first day of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on a high note, handing Georgia Tech 59-43 beating.

“We have been playing through adversity all year, we have been losing guys left and right,” said Hokies senior Malcolm Delaney.

Freshman forward Jarell Eddie was suspended for the remainder of the season following a marijuana possession charge on Feb. 15 which left the already depleted Hokies bench decimated.

“We talked about pressure,” said Seth Greenberg, Hokies head coach. “Pressure isn’t playing a basketball game … I just wanted them to go out, play ball, and have fun.”

Delaney and fellow senior Jeff Allen appeared determined to finish their careers on top by advancing to the NCAA Tournament as the duo combined for 29 points. Delaney finished with 15 points on four of seven shooting including two of four from three-point range.

Allen, who suffered a left ankle injury during the second half in Tech’s regular season-ending loss to Clemson, appeared just fine.

The senior from Washington, D.C., was limited in practice on Wednesday and appeared to be favoring the ankle in warm-ups. Yet, Allen put on a show scoring 14 points on six of 10 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds – his 16th double-double of the season and 44th of his career.

“It didn’t limit me at all,” Allen said. “It hurt a little during the game (near the end), but the medicine took care of it.”

The Hokies began the game on fire, jumping to a 15-2 lead with 14:08 remaining in the half.

After being down by as much as 19, Georgia Tech went on an 8-0 run thanks to three-pointers by Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice Jr. to close the lead to 30-19 with 4:07 remaining in the first stanza. The Hokies managed a 6-0 run to close out the first half and led 36-19 heading into intermission.

“It was really important to get off to a good start because the last two games we struggled early,” Greenberg said. “Coming off two losses, I’m not sure our team was built to play from behind.”

The Hokies 2-3 zone defense stifled the Yellow Jackets’ offensive attack and forced them into just 23.3 percent shooting in the opening half. On the other hand, Tech shot a scorching 50 percent from the field and Malcolm Delaney scored a team-high 11 points in the first half.

The only blemish in the first half for Tech was a rare stretch of three straight missed free throws for Delaney. Other than that, Tech made judicious use of the paint in the half scoring 14 points inside while Georgia Tech managed just four.

It was more of the same in the second half as the Hokies continued to hinder the Yellow Jackets’ offense. Georgia Tech cut the lead to 36-22 early in the second half, however the Hokies went on a 13-5 run to take their largest lead of the game at that point, 49-27, at the under-12 minute media timeout.

The Hokies would not look back, and in front of a barren Greensboro Coliseum, took the opening round victory.

Tonight, the Hokies were able to weather the Yellow Jackets press, which was incredibly effective against them earlier in the season when Georgia Tech won 72-57 in Atlanta. Hokies guard Malcolm Delaney was limited to eight points and committed eight turnovers that night.

ESPN analyst Andy Katz predicted the Hokies losing to the Yellow Jackets and dropping out of the NCAA Tournament field. However, Tech lives to fight another day with aspirations to end a four year drought to the Big Dance.

The Hokies will battle Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Friday. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on either the ACC Network or ESPN2.

A version of this article appeared in the Mar 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.