Virginia Tech 60, Georgetown 55
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 3/6/04
Washington, DC -- Apparently, just making the Big East Tournament isn't enough; Virginia Tech wants more. Led by Bryant Matthews with 26 points, the Hokies held Georgetown scoreless for the last 4:42 of the game, outscoring the Hoyas 7-0 down the stretch to win 60-55 and put an exclamation point on the end of their regular season. With the win, Tech goes to 14-13 (7-9 Big East), clinching their first winning regular season since going 15-14 in the Atlantic 10 in 1999-2000.
The Hokies will enter the Big East Tournament as the #9 seed, courtesy of Pittsburgh's 59-45 victory over Villanova Saturday, which knocked Villanova to 6-10 in the league, behind the Hokies. VT will most likely play #8 seed Rutgers. Rutgers (7-8 Big East) will play Seton Hall Sunday at noon and could tie #7 Notre Dame (8-7) in the league standings, but it's unlikely, because Notre Dame plays Big East sad-sack St. John's Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Irish could clinch #7 or higher with a win over the Red Storm (game time 4:00 p.m. Saturday).
As the #9 seed, the Hokies will play on ESPN at noon on Wednesday, March 10th. (Click here for the Big East bracket, and click here for the Big East standings.)
Georgetown's Courtland Freeman made two free throws with 4:42 left to cap a 7-2 run and put the Hoyas (13-14, 4-12) up 55-53. The two teams traded scoreless possessions for over two minutes, and Matthews put the Hokies up for good by sticking a left-wing three-pointer with 2:14 remaining.
After a Georgetown miss, Matthews missed a baseline jumper, but it was rebounded by Allen Calloway. Calloway missed the follow-up, but Matthews tipped it in for the 58-55 lead with 1:20 to go.
Georgetown's Gerald Riley missed a three-pointer with a minute remaining, and after a timeout, Tech's Zabian Dowdell penetrated from the wing, hit Calloway with a beautiful bounce pass on the baseline, and Calloway was fouled going to the hole. A 39% free-throw shooter, Calloway hit the first one, giving the Hokies a four-point lead with 32.3 seconds to go.
Brandan Bowman, who led Georgetown with 19 points, drove the baseline into a double-team, and Dowdell stole the ball from him with 21.1 seconds left. Bowman knocked it out of bounds, and after the Hokies inbounded it, Matthews made an ill-advised long pass to Sean Harris that was bobbled and stolen. Fortunately for the Hokies, Dowdell registered another steal, this one of an Ashanti Cook pass with 10 seconds left, and Georgetown fouled Dowdell with 7.6 seconds left. Dowdell hit the first one for the final margin, and the Hokies had their third win in a row and fourth in their last five games.
Matthews, who sat for 7 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, shot 10-20 from the field and made 4 of 6 three-pointers. As usual, he led the Hokies in rebounding, with 7, as Tech outrebounded Georgetown 33-30. Dowdell had a good game, knocking down 5 of 9 shots and scoring 14 points, and Calloway had a career-high 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Calloway also registered three blocks and threw down a monster dunk off a pass from Harris with 12:45 to go that put Tech up 45-43.
Tech won despite shooting 40% from the field (22-55), 56% from the free throw line (10-18), and 25% from the three-point line (6-24). One key was the 9 steals registered by the Hokies, against just 11 turnovers. Tech took 12 more shots from the field than Georgetown, helping them to the win.
The Hokies trailed 32-29 at half time, after a seesaw half that saw both teams put up big runs. Georgetown stretched that lead to 38-33 early in the second half, before a 7-0 run by the Hokies saw them go up 40-38. The game went back and forth for a while, before two consecutive dunks by Matthews, off feeds from Jamon Gordon and Markus Sailes, put Tech up by 53-48 with 6:35 to go.
The Hokies then gave up 7 straight points in less than two minutes, falling behind 55-53 on Freeman's free throws. That was Georgetown's last gasp, though, as they faded and suffered their eighth straight loss, the first and last coming at the hands of VT. Georgetown, having lost to VT 80-65 in Blacksburg earlier this year, joins WVU as the only Big East teams to be swept by VT in a season, both coming this year.
Georgetown is in danger of not making the Big East Tournament, if Miami beats West Virginia in Coral Gables Saturday night. That would eliminate the Hoyas, who would join charter Big East member St. John's in sitting out the 2004 tournament.
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Virginia Tech 60, Georgetown 55
3/6/04, Washington, DC
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Virginia Tech................. 29 31 60
Georgetown.................... 32 23 55
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VIRGINIA TECH (14-13, 7-9)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Z Dowdell 34 5-10 3-4 0-4 3 2 14
J Gordon 33 1-7 0-2 2-4 4 3 2
B Matthews 33 10-20 2-3 2-7 1 3 26
M Sailes 31 0-2 1-2 1-5 4 1 1
P McCandies 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 0
B Randall 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
A Calloway 27 4-5 1-4 3-4 0 0 9
S Harris 17 2-8 1-1 2-3 2 3 6
C Collins 12 0-1 2-2 0-2 0 0 2
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 22-55 10-18 10-29 14 16 60
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.400, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals:
6-22, .273 (Z Dowdell 1-5, J Gordon 0-3, B
Matthews 4-6, M Sailes 0-2, B Randall 0-1, S
Harris 1-5). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots:
5 (A Calloway 3, B Matthews, J Gordon).
Turnovers: 10 (S Harris 5, B Matthews 2, A
Calloway, P McCandies, M Sailes). Steals: 9
(B Matthews 3, J Gordon 2, A Calloway, B
Randall, C Collins, Z Dowdell).
GEORGETOWN (13-14, 4-12)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
A Cook 35 4-7 0-0 0-4 0 2 10
B Bowman 38 8-12 0-0 0-8 1 3 19
C Freeman 31 2-8 4-6 0-2 0 4 8
D Owens 36 3-6 1-3 2-6 3 2 7
G Riley 36 4-9 2-2 0-2 2 1 11
O Faulkner 1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
M Causey 14 0-1 0-1 0-1 4 1 0
A Fall 9 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 2 0
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-43 7-12 3-25 10 16 55
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.488, FT-.583. 3-Point Goals:
6-14, .429 (A Cook 2-3, B Bowman 3-5, D Owens
0-2, G Riley 1-3, M Causey 0-1). Team
Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 6 (B Bowman 5, M
Causey). Turnovers: 17 (B Bowman 5, A Cook 4,
G Riley 2, D Owens 2, M Causey 2, C Freeman,
A Fall). Steals: 5 (C Freeman, D Owens, B
Bowman, A Cook, M Causey).
Technical fouls: None. A: 11,286. Officials: Ed
Corbett, Frank Scagliotta, Michael Stephens
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results