Time To Dance

Last night the Virginia Tech Hokies solidified their tournament spot with a 64-60 win over #1 Duke, in what was arguably one of VT's top 5 most important games in program history. On this night it seemed The Hokies could not lose this game. Gameday, the fans, and Duke all set the bar for Virginia Tech and they rose to challenge and knocked off Duke. Virginia Tech is a team who always seems to find themselves on the bubble in late February into early March. They have been left out the last few years, but this is no more. Despite an off night from Malcolm Delaney, and terrible free throw shooting (39.1%) they got it done. Good teams always find a way to win, and that is what The Hokies did. All 5 starters scored in the double-digits, headlined by Jeff Allen's 18 points and 15 rebounds. Eric Green added 12 points, which included two and 1's that provided a spark. Victor Davilla had 11 points and 10 rebound, which was exactly what VT needed due to the lack of depth inside. Terrel Bell scored a dozen points, and had a key 3 with 4 minutes left, which tied up the game. Then there was Malcolm Delaney. He struggled the whole night, and was 0-5 on 3's until 2 minutes left in the game. Virginia Tech was clinging to a 2 point lead, and Malcolm Delaney stepped up and drained a 3 to extend Th Hokies lead. His 3 was part of Virginia Tech's 15-4 run in the last 4 minutes of play.
Duke's leading scorer was Kyle Singler, he had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nolan Smith added 18 points. In a game that was supposed to be huge for Seth Curry, he was held scoreless annd fouled out. The Virginia Tech students harassed Curry with chants of "who's your daddy?", as VT former great Dell Curry, father of Seth, was in attendance. For Duke, this is a tiny bump in the road. They will rebound and get a #1 seed in the tournament. For Virginia Tech, this is a milestone win that speaks to the effort level of the short-handed Hokies this season.-Josh Neighbors