Mar 17, 2007, 2:55 GMT
Columbus, OH - Deron Washington scored 14 points and hit the go-ahead jumper with 45.5 seconds left, and fifth-seeded Virginia Tech held on to beat Illinois, 54-52, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Coleman Collins scored 13 points, and Jamon Gordon added 10 points and seven assists for the Hokies (22-11), who advanced and will play Southern Illinois in the second round on Sunday.
Warren Carter scored 15 points for Illinois (23-12). Rich McBride scored 14 points, and Brian Randle grabbed 12 rebounds for the Fighting Illini, who led by 13 points in the second half, and by 10 points with less than five minutes left, but could not hold on for the win.
Virginia Tech closed with a 12-0 run to win the game. A.D. Vassallo made one- of-two free throws with 23.3 seconds left to put the Hokies ahead 54-52. Randle missed a three on the following possession, but was fouled by Washington as they fought for rebound, and had a chance to tie the game with a one-and-one opportunity with 4.9 showing on the clock.
Randle missed the front end, though, and the fight for the rebound ran all but one-tenth of a second off the clock. Tech inbounded the ball, and the game was over.
Illinois came out strong in the second half to seemingly take control of the game. After two Gordon free throws cut the deficit to 33-29 with 16:09 left, the Illini ran off a 14-5 run, with a Randle free throw putting Illinois ahead 47-34 with 8:18 left.
The teams played an evenly matched first half, but Illinois pulled away late. Ahead 21-19, the Illini rolled off eight straight points, capped a four-point play by Carter that put them up 29-19 with 1:21 left.
A Zabian Dowdell jumper cut the deficit to 29-21 at the half.
Game Notes
This is Virginia Tech's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 11 seasons, and the Hokies improved to 6-7 overall in the tourney...Illinois outrebounded the Hokies 37-22...
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
View blog reactions
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)
Advertising
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)