Miami Falls To Virginia Tech
Jan. 10, 2001
Virginia Tech 85, Miami 74
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Virginia Tech won their first Big East conferencegame ever as the Hokies beat the Miami Hurricanes 85-74 Wednesday night. Thetwo schools, fierce rivals on the football field, met for the first time on thebasketball court.
After the Hurricanes took a 19-14 lead, Tech reeled off six straight pointsto go up by one. Dwayne Wimbley scored seven of the next 11 points as Miami(8-6, 0-3 Big East) took the lead again, but the Hokies’ Carlos Dixon hit abaseline three point shot at the buzzer to tie the game at halftime, 31-31. Thelead changed hands eight times in the first half.
Danny Gathings had 17 points and Bryant Matthews scored 16 for Tech.
Darius Rice had 31 points – including 7-15 three-pointers – for theHurricanes.
Virginia Tech (7-7, 1-2) turned the ball over twice within the first twominutes of the second half, which helped Miami take a 40-33 lead. A Darius Ricedunk and a three point field goal led the Hurricanes during that stretch. Miamiwas up 43-37 before Tech scored eleven of the next twelve to go up 50-44.
Both teams had trouble holding on to the ball – the Hokies had 25 turnoversin the game, the Hurricanes 19.
Things then went from bad to worse for the visitors: after a Miami basket byJohn Salmons, the Hokies scored the next sixteen points for a 66-46 lead.Virginia Tech shot 65 percent in the second half and 55 percent for the game.
The Hurricanes cut that lead to six points twice but could get no closer toVirginia Tech, which snapped a two game losing streak with the win.
