Sports Assistant
Coming off a close loss to St. John?s University, the Virginia Tech men?s basketball team took the court Wednesday night versus Boston College in hopes of building on the momentum they appeared to be gaining with their play as of recently. Instead, the team regressed badly, losing 95-71 Wednesday night to the Golden Eagles.
The Hokies came out strong, running with the Golden Eagles until Boston College took over cruising on a 17-2 run.
The Hokies trailed 46-25 going into the half, but could not surmount a comeback in what most would call a debacle ? where Boston College shot a stellar 67 percent from the field.
The Golden Eagles attacked with a solid mix of strong front court play, along with dominant play down low, balancing their offensive game plan with outside shooting and pounding the ball inside.
?They?re a great basketball team who came here and played hard tonight,? said point guard Eric Branham. ?Transition is their game, and they killed us with it tonight.? Offensively, Boston College was led by last year?s Big East player of the year, Troy Bell, who scored 27 points to go along with his four assists. In the paint, the Eagles rode high on freshmen Craig Smith?s 25 points, shooting a stellar 10-12 from the field.
Carlos Dixon led all Tech scorers with 21 points, shooting 4-7 from behind the three-point line. The Hokies put together 46 points in the second half, but a vulnerable defense and foul trouble could not allow them to come close in the contest.
?We did not execute down low tonight,? said head coach Ricky Stokes, ?Our defense was weak, especially when we were scoring, we were merely trading baskets with them, not cutting into their lead.?
In the last five minutes of play, Stokes sent out younger reserves including freshmen Fabian Davis, Allen Calloway and Markus Sailes. Seven-foot, three-inch Luke Minor also entered late in the game to bring the crowd to their feet. The inexperienced squad used transition basketball to close the game on a 12-1 run.
?We have to figure out where we stand,? Stokes said. ?The high point of tonight came from our play in the younger guys on the team. As a team, we need to find a solid five to put on the court to allow us to win.?
The Hokies travel to Rhode Island to take on the Providence Friars on Saturday. In the last match up between these two squads, the Hokies dominated the Friars, winning with a commanding score of 92-79.
?Tonight was embarrassing,? Matthews said. ?We are going to have two strong practices this week and put this behind us. We are all looking forward to Saturday.?
Tonight?s loss, along with a win by the Miami Hurricanes, puts the Hokies? hopes of a bid into the Big East tournament in jeopardy.
?We have a lot of games left,? Stokes said. ?We?re going to pick up the pieces and hopefully put together some wins to carry us to the postseason.?