Columbia, S.C - The shorthanded Virginia Tech Hokies got back in the winning column with an 86-83 back-and-forth overtime victory in Colonial Life Arena against South Carolina (5-3) on Dec. 2.
This is Virginia Tech’s (7-2) first-ever win in the ACC/SEC challenge with losses to Auburn and Vanderbilt in the first two years of the challenge’s existence. After getting trounced by the SEC (2-14) a season ago, the ACC has bounced back and taken a 5-3 lead after the first night of games.
“Two really difficult losses in the Bahamas in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but we feel good about this one,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young following the win.
With 3:44 left in regulation South Carolina guard Mike Sharavjamts (14 points, six rebounds) soared in to finish an acrobatic and-one off of Meechie Johnson’s missed fadeaway jumper. Sharavjamts knocked down the free throw giving the Gamecocks their first lead since it was 1-0 - almost two hours earlier.
On the following possession, Virginia Tech point guard Ben Hammond stepped back and nailed a huge triple to tie the game at 68 and silence the crowd with 3:20 to spare.
Both teams cooled off, only scoring two points each by the 42 second mark as South Carolina head coach Lamond Paris took a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Hokies star freshman Neoklis Avdalas rushed into a step-back triple, which he missed off of the front of the rim.
With a chance to win it, Paris opted to let his players play it out rather than take a timeout. The possession became disastrous as Johnson, looking to chew the clock and hold for the final shot, waited until the three second mark to make his move. He dumped it off to Sharavjamts but the clock struck zero before the ball ever touched his hand.
Overtime in Columbia.
Avdalas opened up extra time with four quick points on two free throws and a tough 15-foot fadeaway jumper. He finished with a near-triple double - 13 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and just one turnover. These buckets gave the Hokies a 74-73 lead with 3:46 left in overtime.
As it did all game, South Carolina responded with a Christ Essandoko triple, deep on the left wing. That was Essandoko’s (eight points) second three pointer of the game, after making just one all season.
Jaden Schutt (12 points), who had been on a heater in the last week, curled around a screen and got fouled on a three pointer. He nailed two of the three free throws to tie the game at 76 with 2:41 remaining.
The Hokies finally generated a stop and a score, courtesy of a Hammond jumper, to take a short-lived lead.
On the following possession, Gamecock guard Kobe Knox took it to the rack and converted a phantom and-one against Avdalas. This gave the Gamecocks a 79-78 lead with 1:34 remaining and just as importantly ended Avdalas’ night with five fouls.
Avdalas was the second starter to foul out as Tyler Johnson picked up his fifth with 2:58 left in regulation. Virginia Tech bigs Amani Hansberry and Antonio Dorn each finished with four fouls in a lopsided game from the standpoint of fouls (24-17). All this foul trouble thinned out an already short-handed team missing Tobi Lawal.
In need of a bucket, the Hokies ran the same play that led Schutt to draw a foul just over a minute earlier. This time Schutt curled around Dorn’s screen, took the handoff from Hansberry and drilled a fading three from the top-of-the-key to give Tech an 81-79 advantage with just 1:20 to go.
Back to back difficult Elijah Strong (16 points) buckets canceled out two Hammond free throws to even the score once again at 83 with 38 seconds left. That was just one of eight ties and nine lead changes throughout this tightly contested game.
With 13 seconds to go, Hammond used Dorn’s ‘Gortat screen’ to get all the way to the cup and finish the righty layup to give Tech an 85-83 lead.
South Carolina had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Johnson misfired on a triple with three seconds left. Hansberry got the board and was sent to the stripe, where he went just 2-for-8 on the night.
Hansberry missed the first and made the second to put the Hokies up 86-83. South Carolina heaved it up the floor to Strong, who got a decent look at the buzzer but it was no good.
The Hokies escaped with their second overtime win of the season - the other being the shootout against Providence a couple weeks back.
“Togetherness” was a theme Hammond and Hansberry referenced when attributing the Hokies success down the stretch Tuesday night.
Hansberry was particularly dominant on the interior, scoring a game-high 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting and adding 14 rebounds and two blocks. Rather than spotting up on the perimeter for kickout threes, he often cut to the basket when one of his guards got to the hoop.
“I just really haven’t been shooting the ball well,” Hansberry, who is shooting below 23% from deep, explained. “Being able to go crash (and) get an offensive board and look for guys like Schutt and Hammond or Neo on sprayouts. The more possessions, the better chance you have to win, so that was my mindset.”
This mindset was quite effective as Virginia Tech won the rebounding battle 37-28, including a dominant 21-9 margin in the first half.
Dorn moved into the starting lineup in Lawal’s stead and had perhaps his best day as a Hokie. He finished with eight points and just two rebounds but kept multiple possessions alive with tip-outs or by drawing fouls on offensive rebound attempts.
Save for a couple hiccups, Virginia Tech’s offense was effective. It shot 50% from the floor and only turned the ball over nine times. After struggling with ball security a year ago, Avdalas has transformed this team, which is now top ten in the country in turnovers per game.
“When the ball moves and we’ve got good player movement and we’re screening correctly, we’re really hard to defend,” Young said.
After picking up a much-needed win in its first true road game of the season, Virginia Tech returns to Cassell Coliseum to host the 9-0 George Mason Patriots at 3 p.m., Saturday Dec. 6.
