The shorthanded Virginia Tech Hokies dodged disaster with an 82-81 overtime victory over the Elon Phoenix (7-5) on Saturday, Dec. 20 in Cassell Coliseum. With Neoklis Avdalas, Tobi Lawal and Antonio Dorn sidelined, Virginia Tech (11-2) relied upon Amani Hansberry (20 points, 14 rebounds) and multiple freshmen in its 19-point come-from-behind win.
“We just had to find a way to win,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. “I knew going in that they were good. I was nervous about it. I’m proud of our team.”
With 1:30 left in regulation, Ben Hammond used a ball-screen from Hansberry to weave his way through the defense and knock down a short mid-range to tie the game at 70.
As it did for most of the afternoon, Elon quickly responded as Chandler Cuthrell got inside position on Tyler Johnson and used his body as a shield to finish with his right hand and give his team a 72-70 lead with 1:07 to play.
Hansberry evened the score, finding the center of Elon’s 1-3-1 zone and putting his shoulder down to bully his way to a floater.
With the score knotted at 72, Elon had an opportunity to hold for the final shot. While it appeared to turn the ball over with about three seconds to go, the refs overturned the call, giving it back to Elon for a sideline out-of-bounds play. Kacper Klaczek got a good look on the left baseline, but he air mailed it as the clock expired, sending the game into overtime.
The already-undermanned Hokies rotation became even shorter in overtime. Hansberry fouled out and Johnson turned his ankle and limped off the floor leaving the Hokies with quite the unexpected closing lineup of Hammond, Izaiah Pasha, Jaden Schutt, Sin’Cere Jones, and Christian Gurdak.
None of those are a part of Virginia Tech’s typical starting five.
After a back-and-forth overtime, DeMarco Johnson froze Hammond with a stop-and-go move and got all the way to the cup for an easy layup to give Elon an 81-80 lead with 25 seconds left.
With the shot clock turned off, Hammond found his former high-school teammate, Gurdak, down low who got Klaczek in the air with a pump fake before dropping in a layup to put the Hokies up 82-81 with 10 seconds left.
Young used his final timeout to set up his defense in full-court pressure. Immediately, Klaczek beat his man up the court, but Hammond snuck his hand in and stripped Klaczek as the ball went off his knee and rolled out of bounds.
Forced to intentionally foul with four seconds left, Elon sent Pasha to the line. Pasha missed both free throws, but hustled down the floor to block Byrson Cokley’s game-winning three point attempt at the buzzer and secure the comeback victory for the Hokies.
Elon, which upset Notre Dame in an ACC matchup a year ago, led for 37:43, but fell just short of the upset win.
With so many Hokies unable to stay on the floor, multiple young players had their numbers called and played crucial minutes.
Gurdak, who has been splitting minutes at the center position with Dorn, got his first start and had a career-high 17 points and six rebounds on 6-for-8 shooting.
Pasha got 28 minutes of action and scored a season-high 11 points. He frequently used his athleticism and size at the guard position to get to the hoop and draw fouls.
Jones went scoreless but made multiple huge plays on the defensive end during overtime including a huge block and a near-steal.
Despite the impressive comeback, there are a number of areas Young and this team need to clean up before ACC play.
Most importantly: defensive rebounding.
The Hokies wound up winning the rebounding battle 36-35, but they gave up 16 offensive rebounds. Many of those came on long rebounds off of missed threes.
According to Young, Lawal is “getting closer” to making his return and he will undoubtedly change this team’s rebounding prowess. Still, the Hokies need to figure out ways to rebound without Lawal, who will likely miss the beginning of conference play.
Virginia Tech, which is sixth in the country in limiting turnovers, threw some uncharacteristically baited or lazy passes, resulting in 13 turnovers - tying its season-high from its loss against VCU.
Jailen Bedford, who missed the win over Maryland Eastern Shore with sickness, struggled mightily, scoring just two points and turning it over four times. He seemed particularly uneasy against Elon’s full court pressure.
Tech needs its starting shooting guard to return to his early-season form. Bedford averaged over 13 points per game through the first six games. He’s scored just 20 points total in his last six outings.
Virginia Tech struggled from behind-the-arc (4-for-14), but it neutralized its cold-shooting afternoon by working the ball inside (40 points in the paint) and getting to the free throw line (20-for-29).
Now, Young and his Hokies have 11 days to get healthy and prepare for the gauntlet of ACC play. Last season, they were 5-7 at the end of non-conference play. This year, they are 11-2.
“We’ve got 18 head knockers in league play coming right at us with UVA obviously on Dec. 31 in the Cassell,” Young said.
