cavaliers hold off hokies, 73-70, in tight finish 

Bradley Winterling

Editor-in-Chief

February 15, 2024

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech’s rally came up just short Saturday as the Hokies fell to in-state rival Virginia, 73-70, at Cassell Coliseum. 

The Hokies (11-14, 6-8 ACC) trailed by as many as 15 points, ultimately falling short of a comeback and sweeping the Cavaliers (13-12, 6-8) for the first time since 2010.

“We had an opportunity to tuck tail and go away,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “But [our players] are not gonna do that. They’re gonna play really hard, stay connected, and fight—all the way back we come.”

Virginia controlled the early stages, building a 32-17 lead with 6:38 remaining in the first half. 

The Cavaliers were getting contributions from everyone with Dai Dai Ames leading the way with nine points, followed by Anthony Robinson with eight and Isaac McKneely with six.

Much of Virginia’s success came from beyond the arc.

“We’re doing dumb things,” Young said. … “We made mistakes in that portion, got it corrected, and I thought we played a lot better in the last ten minutes [of the half].”

The Hokies began chipping away at the 15-point deficit largely due to the dominant play of forward Tobi Lawal, Tech’s leading scorer this season. 

Lawal scored 19 in the first half, shooting 6-of-9 from the field, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Lawal said. “And my teammates were getting me the ball in the right place.”

Virginia Tech cut the deficit to four late in the first half, but Elijah Saunders buried a corner three at the buzzer, sending the Hokies into halftime, trailing 40-33.

The second half remained tight early on, but Tech struggled to string together consecutive stops.

In the way for the Hokies was Isaac McKneely, who scored 18 of his 22 points after the break. He finished 6-of-14 from beyond the arc, fueling Virginia’s offense down the stretch. 

“Don’t have a great matchup,” Young said. … “Need a bit more size and a bit more length on [McKneely]. Ben [Hammond] and Brandon [Rechneister] worked their tails off. I could not ask another thing of those two young men and how they pursued him, and how they guarded him over the course of the game. That’s a hard matchup.” 

Meanwhile, Lawal struggled to find the same success in the second half, scoring just four points to finish with 23—matching his career high.

“They were playing it smart,” Lawal said. “They were triple switching. I would set a screen, and their guard would switch with a big, but then the big waiting at the rim would switch with the guard and let the guard get out. That’s how they were trying to attack us defensively [in the second half].”

Virginia’s strategy to contain Lawal, however, created opportunities for others. 

One of them was Jaydon Young, who knocked down a pair of deep step-back threes as the shot clock expired. He finished with eight points in just 15 minutes.

“He's a good player,” Young said. “He got those two [threes] home and made two foul shots to cut it back to three or four in the first half. [He] did a pretty good job for us.”

Tech finally made it close when Ben Hammond and Tyler Johnson—two freshmen—caught fire, working together to score the final 12 points for Tech, which gave them a chance to win it in the end. 

“They’ve played a lot of ball now,” Young said. “They're remarkable people and good basketball players … they're not playing like freshmen any longer. … They've made the most of the opportunity. Those two kids are playing awfully good basketball for us.”

“I was doing whatever I had to do to win the basketball game,” Hammond said. “I saw a lot of open lanes for myself. I think I'm a great guy driving to the basket, so I was real confident in myself.”

Unfortunately for Tech, they came up short at the horn. 

After a layup from Johnson to make it a one-point game, Andrew Rohde threw up a lob to Robinson, giving Virginia a 73-70 lead with 1:05 to play. 

On Tech’s next possession, Rechsteiner had a good look from deep that rattled out. The Hokies were able to get a stop right after as Johnson hauled in the rebound with ten seconds to play. 

Coach Mike Young opted not to call a timeout as the Hokies pushed up the floor in the final seconds. Ben Burnham fired a contested shot at the buzzer off a pass from Hammond, but it didn’t fall.

“I saw Ben in the corner,” Hammond said. “I thought he was open. I thought if I get out there fast, he can get a quick shot. … I feel like he's been hitting those great shots, big shots, all season. So I feel like I trust him in that position.” 

“We were at an advantage,” Young said. “I thought we might be able to get something. In hindsight, may have called a timeout, but we had a bit of a broken floor.” 

The Hokies will turn around and head up to Boston College on Tuesday to take on the Eagles at 9 p.m. ET. 

Tech is in a good spot in terms of making the ACC Tournament—they just need to win a few more to secure a spot. 

“We’ve gotta move on,” Hammond said. “We’ve got six games left in conference play. We're trying to be top 16 in the conference so we can go to the [ACC] Tournament. Just knowing that we're still getting better—young team, still learning—got a lot more learning to do, more games to play.”

“We'll take a little break,” Young said. “We'll come back and begin our preparation for Boston College. … We'll head to Boston for a nine o'clock start in Chestnut Hill. Nine o'clock. But that's what we have. And you know, we got to go play better basketball, and find a way to win.”