The Hokies had just poured a 7-2 run on the Hoos to build that 16-point lead. With Cassell Coliseum rocking, the Cavaliers were expected to follow the same script they had followed two years earlier in Blacksburg, when they faded down the stretch and gave up in a 73-55 Virginia Tech win.

But the 16-point lead put the Hokies in a strange position: leading in a blowout. Heading into Thursday night's game, the unasked question bothered me: What would Virginia Tech do as a frontrunner, a favorite, in the glare of the spotlight? It seemed as if every ACC columnist and a generous sprinkling of national writers had buzzed this week about Virginia Tech's unexpected ACC wins. The Hokies had snuck up on three ACC teams in their last three outings, but with all eyes upon them, in the favored role, would they get it done?

The answer is yes, but not without making their fans sweat a little first. Within just two and a half minutes, the Cavaliers had ridden three-pointers by J.R. Reynolds and Devin Smith to an 8-0 run that cut the Hokie lead to just 8 points, 62-54. And with 8:04 left, the game was on.

Those last eight minutes seemed to take forever. The Hokies spread the floor and played stall ball, and gradually UVa crept back into it, whittling the lead to three points three times, at 70-67, 72-69, and 74-71. Twice the Cavaliers had possession with that 74-71 score, and twice they failed to cash in. Not until Jamon Gordon flushed a breakaway dunk with 7 seconds left to go to make it 77-73 could Hokie fans relax.

Down that fateful 8-minute stretch, the Hokies made their mistakes. They missed four free throws. They got a little too fancy with the ball, turning it over rashly on an attempted alley-oop dunk and a couple wild passes, when slowing it down and looking for a good shot would have been the smarter play.

The Hokies helped Virginia out a little bit too much, like when Deron Washington fouled he-man Devin Smith on a three-point shot that turned into a rare four-point play, trimming Tech's lead to 70-67 with 3:25 left.

And Virginia didn't need any help. Maligned as a heartless team that fades in the second half, the Hoos instead showed unexpected life, demonstrating the other half of their game: when they're fired up, they're pretty darn good. Devin Smith turned out to be the matchup nightmare that I feared, knocking down 9 of 12 shots, including 4 of 7 from three-point range (how does a 6-5, 242-pound guy do that?) on his way to a game-high 24 points. Smith had his way with the Hokies, and it was all they could do to hold him and his teammates off.

I came out of VT's 79-73 victory shaking my head, fretting that Virginia Tech hadn't done a very good job of holding the lead. Then I listened to the Tech radio postgame show and found out the facts: the Hokies had played exactly their kind of game, racking up +11 in the turnover margin statistic (22 for the Hoos; 11 for VT) and stealing the ball 12 times. That led to an 18-2 margin in points off turnovers. Ballgame, folks.

Zabian Dowdell and Carlos Dixon combined for a commendable 7-of-13 performance from three-point range, where the Hokies shot an uncharacteristically good 8-of-17 (47.1%). Jamon Gordon had his usual solid line: 10 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals (and a laugh-out-loud response when Tech radio analyst Mike Burnop commended him on it: "Coach told me to fill up the stat sheet," Gordon said matter-of-factly).

Coleman Collins was almost unstoppable, using his quickness to great advantage in a 20-point, 7-rebound performance that included a nasty, SportsCenter-highlight, down-the-lane tomahawk jam over 6-10 Virginia freshman Tunji Soroye.

In short, the Hokies did little wrong. They played their usual game, scrapping until the end, and they even threw in a good shooting night (29-of-55, 52.7%) for good measure.

So how did they wind up almost coughing up a 16-point lead? Three things:

• Virginia held a 38-25 rebounding lead, including a 21-13 second-half edge.
• The Hokies missed 10 free throws in a shoddy 13-of-23 (56.5%) performance that included a miserable 4-of-9 mark by Collins, who had been reliable lately.
• Virginia put the pressure on. The Cavaliers can score, and down the stretch, they scored in bunches, getting two three-pointers and even a four-point play in a six-minute stretch.

Twice now the Hokies have held on to win games down the stretch, first against Georgia Tech, where they surrendered a 10-point lead and had to hit a game-winner and then hold on defensively; and now against Virginia, where the Cavaliers whittled a 16-point lead down to a one-possession game and had the ball with a chance to tie.

VT learned against Clemson and NC State, when they erased double-digit deficits to win, that they should never give up when they're behind. Against Georgia Tech and Virginia, when the Hokies watched double-digit leads disappear, they learned … well, that they should never give up when they're ahead.

Would the Hokies and their fans have preferred that it not be so difficult? Certainly. It would have been fun to take that 62-46 lead and turn it into 75-52, or maybe even 80-56. But perhaps, in fighting off the Cavaliers down to the finish line, the Hokies learned, once again, that it's all about competing in the ACC, whether you're ahead or behind.

In the space of 12 days, from January 15th's game against Clemson to Thursday night's game against Virginia, the sleeping giant that is Virginia Tech basketball has started to stir. The UVa game featured a rare sight, a Cassell Coliseum that was full up into the corners, with attendance listed (again) at 9,847. If that figure is too high -- empty seats were sprinkled throughout the place -- it's not in excess by more than just a couple hundred fans. It was the biggest, loudest, most raucous men's basketball crowd since the Hokies faced #1 UMass in early 1996. (Nine years between packed houses is too long to wait.)

The VT students showed up in full force and were loud throughout the game, and the VT Athletic Department pulled out a few new tricks. Twice during the game, the video boards played a montage of VT's game-winning moments against Clemson, NC State, and Georgia Tech, to the backdrop of the ever-popular "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Bounce, students, bounce. And when the Virginia basketball team came out of half time, they were faced with a packed student section that had acquired long, skinny balloons during the break, shaking them to create a quivering, noisy backdrop of orange for the Virginia shooters in the second half. Too bad it didn't affect them.

The balloon thing might not happen again, because the students figured out how to make noise with them (good): they performed a motion on them that you're more likely to find on the Spice Channel late at night, not on the Family Channel during the day (bad). Ah, youth. Give them a harmless thing like a balloon, and they manage to make their athletic director regret it.

The five-game winning streak, including four ACC contests, that has salvaged a once-mediocre 6-6 season has been a fun ride. Now comes the tough part. The Hokies go on the road for four out of their next five games, and the one home contest is no picnic, against Top 5 Wake Forest. Over the next two-plus weeks, Tech plays at Duke, at Miami, home against Wake, at Maryland, and then the return match at Virginia. It's a stretch that might take their handsome 11-6 (4-2) record and turn it into a pedestrian 11-11 (4-7).

But those are concerns for another day. For now, VT has beaten Virginia, vaulting themselves into an unthinkable third-place tie at 4-2 in the conference. Wake Forest dropped an overtime game against GT Thursday night to fall into a tie with the Hokies.