Hurricanes Take Down Hokies 70-59
Feb. 22, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Guillermo Diaz scored a season-high 29 points and Miami snapped a four-game losing streak with a 70-59 victory over Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
Diaz scored nine of Miami’s last 13 points, including a three-point play that put the Hurricanes (15-12, 7-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) up 64-52 with 2:29 to play. He was 10-of-14 from the field, and the Hurricanes shot 51 percent.
“When I play real aggressive, it helps the team,” said Diaz, who scored 23 points in a 92-71 loss at Duke Sunday. “It’s easier when you’re aggressive. You can do a lot of different things.”
“Guillermo’s had two great performances back to back,” Miami coach Frank Haith said. “He played really under control. We did a great job of getting him the ball.”
A.D. Vassallo and Zabian Dowdell each had 15 points for Virginia Tech (13-13, 3-10), which has lost three straight and four of its last five.
Miami was leading 16-14 when Anthony King sparked a 13-0 run by scoring six consecutive points. The Hurricanes went ahead 27-14 when Diaz hit his third 3-pointer of the game with 7:45 left in the half.
Raymond Hicks’ dunk with 7:13 left made it 29-14.
Virginia Tech never got closer than 11 points the rest of the half as Miami took a 39-27 lead.
Miami shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half, and Diaz scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
“In the first (half), we weren’t playing as hard as we always do,” Vassallo said. “We let them get in front of us real fast. We had to play the catch-up game pretty much from the beginning of the game.”
Virginia Tech played that game well in the second half, cutting Miami’s lead to 55-51 on a jumper by Deron Washington at 7:48, but Miami went on a 6-0 run over the next 4:39, with Diaz scoring the final four points of that run on driving layups.
“We just kept going to him,” Haith said. “He made plays. He had a couple plays where he got in the paint, and he was able to finish and take a hit.”
Virginia Tech shot 43.8 percent from the field for the game and just 58.8 from the free-throw line.
“Our inability to make a free throw broke us,” Greenberg said.
