Deron Washington AD Vassallo Coach Seth Greenberg - HokieSports

GAME 28 GAME 29 GAME 30
Virginia Tech 73, Miami 57
Feb. 24, 2007 • Blacksburg, Va.
Virginia 69, Virginia Tech 56
March 1, 2007 • Charlottesville, Va.
Clemson 75, Virginia Tech 74
March 4, 2007 • Blacksburg, Va.
Virginia Tech reached the 20-win plateau for
the first time in 11 seasons by getting double-figure
scoring performance from five starters and using sticky
second-half defense to grind out a 73-57 victory over
the Miami Hurricanes in an ACC game played at Cassell
Coliseum.
With the win - Tech’s second straight and fourth
in the past five games - the Hokies improved to 20-8
overall on the season, 10-4 in the ACC, and they moved
to 13-1 overall at Cassell. Miami, coming off an upset
win over Virginia, fell to 11-17 overall, 4-10 in the
league.
Tech trailed by as many as seven late in the first
half, but managed to close the half by scoring the final
seven points to tie the game at 32 at the break. In the
second half, the Hokies opened with a mini 8-3 spurt to
regain the lead and never trailed again.
A 13-4 run late in the second half put the game
away for the Hokies. Tech took its biggest lead at the
time, 62-49, on two free throws by Coleman Collins
with 4:21 to go to cap the run, and the Hokies ended up
salting this one away at the free-throw line once Miami
started fouling. Tech hit 9-of-12 from the line in the final
three minutes.
Dowdell again paced the Hokies, scoring 20 points.
He hit just 6-of-14 from the floor, but made 6-of-7 from
the free-throw line, and he also tied a career high with
eight rebounds to go with four assists.
Collins scored in double figures for Tech for the
first time in seven games, finishing with 15 points and
six rebounds. Jamon Gordon added 13 points and five
assists, while Deron Washington added 12 points - four
baskets on dunks - and A.D.Vassallo chipped in 11. Tech
shot 49 percent from the floor.
The University of Virginia used a big run toward the
end of the first half to grab the lead, and Virginia Tech
never got over the hump, falling to the Cavaliers 69-56
in an ACC game played on Senior Night at John Paul
Jones Arena in Charlottesville.
With the loss, Tech saw its two-game winning
streak snapped. The Hokies fell to 20-9 overall on the
season, 10-5 in the ACC. Virginia won for the fourth time
in the past five games, improving to 20-8 overall, 11-4
in the ACC. The Cavaliers moved into sole possession of
first place in the league.
Despite a slow start in which they found
themselves trailing 17-5, the Hokies climbed back in
the game, using an 18-3 run to take a 23-20 lead on a
basket by Zabian Dowdell with 5:36 left in the first half.
Virginia responded by scoring 16 of the game’s next
19 points over the final five minutes of the first half to
take a 36-26 lead. Dowdell’s two free throws with 1.9
seconds left cut the lead to eight at the half.
In the second half, the Cavaliers stayed in
command. The closest Tech came was within five points
after Dowdell’s lay-up with 14:54 to go. The Hokies cut
it to six once later when Markus Sailes scored on a dunk
with 12:33 left that made the score 48-42.
The Cavaliers put the game away after that by
scoring the next eight points, with six of those coming
on 3-pointers by Mamadi Diane and Sean Singletary.
Tech got no closer than seven points the rest of the
game.
Dowdell carried the Hokies in this one, scoring
a team-high 17 points. He hit 7-of-19 from the floor
and was the lone Hokie in double figures. Deron
Washington finished with nine points for Tech.
Zabian Dowdell scored 25 points against Clemson
in his final collegiate home game, but the Virginia Tech
couldn’t come up with a rebound off a missed free
throw late in the game and it proved costly as Tech fell
to Clemson 75-74 at Cassell Coliseum in the regularseason
finale for both teams.
Tech lost for the second straight time, falling to 20-
10 overall, 10-6 in the ACC. Clemson improved to 21-9,
7-9 in the league.
Down a point, 75-74, Tech sent Clemson’s Vernon
Hamilton to the free-throw line for a one-and-one
with 13 seconds left in the game. Hamilton bricked the
attempt, but Tech couldn’t corral the rebound and a
wild scramble ensued for the ball. Hamilton rebounded
and tossed the ball to a teammate. Tech tried to foul,
but by the time Jamon Gordon fouled Cliff Hammonds,
only 1.9 seconds remained in the game.
Hammonds missed both attempts and Tech
called timeout with 1.5 ticks to go. On the final play,
Tech’s Deron Washington threw a length-of-the-court
pass to A.D. Vassallo, who was supposed to tip the
ball to Dowdell for the final shot. But Clemson batted
Washington’s pass away and the final horn sounded.
Clemson took the final lead in a crazy second half
on a driving basket by K.C. Rivers over Washington with
19.4 seconds remaining. The Hokies quickly pushed
the ball up the court, and Dowdell took an open
jumper at the free-throw line with under 15 seconds
to go that would have given the Hokies the lead. But
Dowdell misfired, and Hamilton came up with the ball.
Washington fouled him, sending him to the line and
setting up the final 13 seconds.
2006-2007 GAME-BY-GAME
Miami (11-17, 4-10)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Collins 38 4-8 3-7 6 0 2 11
Copeland 24 1-3 0-1 7 2 4 2
Harris 19 2-6 0-0 1 0 5 4
Clemente 33 7-13 3-3 5 2 2 20
Asbury 29 1-6 0-0 5 1 1 2
Graham 16 2-3 0-0 3 0 5 4
Dews 9 1-5 0-0 2 0 3 2
McClinton 32 3-13 3-3 2 2 2 12
Team 3
Totals 200 21-57 9-14 34 7 24 57
Virginia Tech (20-8, 10-4)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Washington 32 4-7 4-8 2 1 2 12
Collins 25 5-8 5-8 6 0 3 15
Vassallo 28 5-8 0-0 4 0 4 11
Dowdell 38 6-14 6-7 8 4 3 20
Gordon 37 3-5 7-10 4 5 2 13
Munson 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Witcher 5 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2
Travis 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Sailes 10 0-2 0-0 1 1 0 0
Diakite 19 0-3 0-0 6 0 3 0
Tucker 3 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Team 4
Totals 200 24-49 22-33 36 11 18 73
Miami 32 25 — 57
Virginia Tech 32 41 — 73
Halftime: VT 32, UM 32. FG% VT 49%, UM 36.8%. 3FG%
VT 27.3% (3-of-11), UM 28.6% (6-of-21). FT% VT 66.7%, UM
64.3%. Turnovers: VT 8, UM 15 (Harris 4). Blocked Shots: VT 5
(Washington, Collins, Vassallo, Witcher, Diakite 1), UM 2 (Copeland,
McClinton 1). Steals: VT 8 (Dowdell, Gordon 3), UM 3.
Officials: Natili, Eades, Hull.
Attendance: 9,847
Virginia Tech (20-9, 10-5)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Washington 33 3-8 3-6 6 1 5 9
Collins 33 2-7 4-6 6 0 2 8
Vassallo 30 1-8 1-1 5 2 2 3
Dowdell 37 7-19 2-3 3 1 2 17
Gordon 21 2-6 2-5 4 1 4 6
Munson 14 2-4 0-0 2 2 1 5
Krabbendam 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Sailes 25 3-5 0-0 2 1 2 6
Diakite 7 1-1 0-0 3 0 2 2
Team 4
Totals 200 21-58 12-21 35 8 20 56
Virginia (20-8, 11-4)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Diane 30 5-7 0-0 4 1 3 13
Cain 29 4-6 0-0 9 1 3 8
Soroye 27 2-2 1-2 2 0 1 5
Reynolds 37 3-15 5-8 4 6 2 13
Singletary 34 5-13 4-4 5 6 4 17
Harris 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Tucker 10 1-2 0-0 4 0 2 3
Joseph 20 3-7 0-0 1 0 0 7
Pettinella 9 1-1 1-2 4 0 2 3
Team 5
Totals 200 24-55 11-16 38 14 17 69
Virginia Tech 28 28 — 56
Virginia 36 33 — 69
Halftime: UV 36, VT 28. FG% VT 36.2%, UV 43.6%. 3FG%
VT 13.3% (2-of-15), UV 62.5% (10-of-16). FT% VT 57.1%, UV
68.8%. Turnovers: VT 10 (Washington 5), UV 13. Blocked
Shots: VT 5 (Collins 3), UV 2. Steals: VT 1 (Gordon 1), UV 2
(Diane, Reynolds 1).
Officials: Wood, Clinton, Eades.
Attendance: 14,931
Clemson (21-9, 7-9)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Booker 33 3-7 3-3 5 3 2 9
Mays 30 4-8 3-5 4 1 1 11
Rivers 34 8-11 1-1 5 1 2 22
Hamilton 31 4-10 2-8 4 2 4 11
Hammonds 36 7-12 0-2 3 6 2 17
Tyler 4 0-1 0-0 2 1 1 0
Sykes 11 1-2 0-0 1 0 2 2
Potter 7 1-3 0-0 0 0 4 3
Morris 10 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Perry 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Powell 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Team 2
Totals 200 28-55 9-19 26 14 20 75
Virginia Tech (20-10, 10-6)
Player MP FG FT R A PF TP
Collins 29 2-6 3-4 5 2 1 7
Tucker 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Dowdell 39 8-14 8-11 5 2 2 25
Gordon 33 7-12 0-0 1 8 5 14
Sailes 27 0-0 4-4 4 1 1 4
Washington 34 5-9 1-2 6 0 4 11
Diakite 11 1-1 1-1 1 0 3 3
Vassallo 21 3-4 2-2 4 0 0 10
Team 3
Totals 200 26-46 19-24 29 13 16 74
Clemson 35 40 — 75
Virginia Tech 32 42 — 74
Halftime: CU 35, VT 32. FG% VT 56.5%, CU 50.9%. 3FG% VT
37.5% (3-of-8), CU 52.6% (10-of-19). FT% VT 79.2%, CU 47.4%.
Turnovers: VT 13 (Dowdell 7), CU 11. Blocked Shots: VT 0, CU
2 (Booker, Hamilton 1). Steals: VT 8 (Gordon 4), CU 6.
Officials: Kersey, Nestor, Styons.
Attendance: 9,847
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2 0 0 7 - 2 0 0 8 V I R G I N I A T E C H M E N’ S B A S K E T B A L L