Virginia Tech 73, Radford 60
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/13/03
Blacksburg, VA -- The Virginia Tech men went on a 15-0 first-half run and stayed ahead of Radford the rest of the way, downing the Highlanders 73-60. The Hokies were led by Zabian Dowdell and Bryant Matthews with 18 points each, and freshman Coleman Collins had 15 points in his collegiate debut.
Tied 9-9 and with leading scorer Matthews on the bench because of two fouls, the Hokies launched a 15-0 run over a span of five minutes that gave VT a 24-9 lead with 8:32 remaining in the first half. The run was led by Tech's true freshmen, as Jamon Gordon, Dowdell, and Collins scored 12 of the 15 points.
Tech led 31-22 at half time, and the Highlanders were able to close it to 7 points, at 50-43 with 7:03 to go, but the Hokies scored five straight points from Collins and Dowdell to push the lead back to 12, and the game was never in doubt after that.
Matthews, who finished with four fouls, only played 24 minutes while leading the Hokies in scoring for the 7th time in eight games. Dowdell and Gordon continued their high assist-to-turnover ratio performance, totaling nine assists to just one turnover. The combo of freshman guards now have an incredible 80 assists against just 28 turnovers for the season (Dowdell: 35 assist, 12 TO's; Gordon: 45 assists, 16 TO's).
Meanwhile Collins, seeing his first action after breaking a bone in his foot in Tech's second preseason exhibition game, had 15 points and 7 rebounds in 26 minutes, shooting 7-for-9 from the field. Tech Coach Seth Greenberg said of Collins in his post-game comments, "Coleman does not have a clue what's going on out there [because of missed time], but he can make some shots."
The Hokies held Radford's leading scorer, Whit Holcomb-Faye, to just 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting, and Tech limited Radford to 4-of-22 shooting from the three-point line. Holcomb-Faye was averaging 23.9 points per game coming into the contest.
Virginia Tech improves to 5-3 on the season, and Radford falls to 4-4. The Hokies' next game is Saturday, December 20th, at Townson, at 4 pm.
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Virginia Tech 73, Radford 60
12/13/03, Blacksburg, VA
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Virginia Tech................. 31 42 73
Radford....................... 22 38 60
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RADFORD (60)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
A Gill 29 1-3 0-0 2-10 0 3 3
B Jeffers 20 1-10 0-0 2-3 1 2 3
D Popoola 20 1-6 1-2 0-2 0 4 4
A Bynum 21 1-3 0-0 1-4 0 4 2
W Holcomb-Faye 40 3-13 4-7 3-4 3 3 10
M James 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
C Goodin 28 7-15 4-5 2-4 1 3 19
C Oliver 21 3-7 4-7 3-5 0 0 10
K Zaharias 19 3-5 3-6 2-3 0 4 9
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-62 16-27 15-35 5 23 60
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.323, FT-.593. 3-Point Goals:
4-22, .182 (A Gill 1-1, B Jeffers 1-2, D
Popoola 1-3, A Bynum 0-1, W Holcomb-Faye 0-6,
C Goodin 1-7, C Oliver 0-2). Team Rebounds:
8. Blocked Shots: 4 (A Gill 2, K Zaharias, C
Oliver). Turnovers: 14 (A Bynum 4, W
Holcomb-Faye 3, C Goodin 3, D Popoola 2, B
Jeffers, A Gill). Steals: 3 (A Gill 2, W
Holcomb-Faye).
VIRGINIA TECH (73)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
B Matthews 24 5-10 8-9 3-8 0 4 18
P McCandies 22 1-7 0-2 3-6 0 3 2
Z Dowdell 37 7-14 2-3 1-2 3 4 18
J Gordon 33 2-8 4-5 0-5 6 3 9
M Sailes 37 3-7 3-5 1-4 4 1 9
F Davis 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
A Calloway 8 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 1 2
C Collins 26 7-9 1-4 1-7 0 3 15
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-58 18-28 10-35 13 20 73
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Percentages: FG-.448, FT-.643. 3-Point Goals:
3-14, .214 (Z Dowdell 2-7, J Gordon 1-5, M
Sailes 0-1, F Davis 0-1). Team Rebounds: 7.
Blocked Shots: 5 (A Calloway 2, P McCandies,
C Collins, J Gordon). Turnovers: 10 (B
Matthews 4, F Davis 2, M Sailes 2, A
Calloway, Z Dowdell). Steals: 8 (J Gordon 3,
B Matthews 2, M Sailes 2, Z Dowdell).
Technical fouls: None. A: 6,779. Officials: Frank
Scagliotta, Gary Prager, Jeff Clark
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results