Richmond Steals Game From Tech, 52-49

The Richmond Spiders recorded 13 steals and forced the Hokies to 24 turnovers to grab a victory at the Robins Center on Thursday night.

Despite a large contingent of Virginia Tech fans present, which at one point got off a rather loud “Let’s Go Hokies” chant, the team’s offense was cold to say the least. Tech finished the game shooting 38% from the floor and 26% from behind the arc. Their 49 points was the lowest in a regular season game for the Hokies since January of 2006 when Virginia also held them to 49.

With just 9 seconds left to play, senior Deron Washington was able to draw a foul off the dribble and head to the free throw line down two. Washington could only hit the first of two free throws and after a pair by Richmond on the other end Malcolm Delaney’s desperation three to send the game into overtime at the buzzer was no good.

“I thought we got off to a great start,” said coach Seth Greenberg, “ we had great minutes from our guys off the bench early on and then we have guys…I’m hoping they were just trying too hard and made some terrible decisions in terms of shot selection and that was really the game.”

The great start was the first 10 minutes of the game when it looked as if Tech’s defense, which has been their key to victory all season, would be able to shut down Richmond enough for the win. The Spiders did not score their first points until the 12:57 mark in the game. The Hokies held a 21-11 lead with 6 minutes to go in the first half, however, Richmond then went on a 14-0 to hold a four-point lead heading into the locker room. The run was led by a pair of freshmen coming off the bench for the Spiders--Justin Harper and Kevin Smith. Smith finished the game a perfect 6-6 from the field and was a part of some key momentum changers in the second half including an alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd to their feet.

“We had two back to back turnovers off the pressure, it’s just immaturity. We talked to the guys about the pressure during the timeout but we’re just immature, plain and simple,” said Greenberg.

Greenberg made it clear after the game that he was not only referring to his freshman, three of which played over 25 minutes. Washington had 6 turnovers and junior A.D. Vassallo had 3 and an off shooting night going just 3-12 from the floor including 0-4 from behind the arc--finishing with only 8 points.

The loss makes Tech 8-6 on the year. Four of those losses have come by 5 points or less and a six-point overtime loss to #22 ranked Butler.

“We’re good enough to beat anyone but also to lose to anyone, you’ve got to give them credit,” Greenberg added.

Tech has a date with Charleston Southern on Monday then has its first ACC home game on Saturday January 12 against a struggling Maryland team at 2pm.

Game Leaders

 Scoring: VT- Hudson 14, Richmond- Gonzalvez 17

Rebounds: VT-Washington 9, Richmond- Smith 5
Assists: VT- Washington 5, Richmond- Smith 5
Steals: VT- Allen 3, Richmond- Anderson 6
Blocks: VT- Witcher 2, Richmond- Moliva, Smith, and Hovde 1