5-9 Guard Comes Up Big In Big East Overtime Win: Virginia Tech 81, Boston College 73
Associated Press
Sunday, January 27, 2008
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., Jan. 26 -- Virginia Tech's Hank Thorns chased Boston College's Tyrese Rice all over the floor for the first 40 minutes, then played like him in the final five.
Thorns scored nine of his 11 points in overtime and Deron Washington had 19 points and eight rebounds to lift Virginia Tech to an 81-73 win against Boston College on Saturday.
Thorns, who watched Rice hit four three-pointers and score on numerous off-balance drives in the lane during the guard's game-high 27-point effort, hit the biggest shot of all early into the overtime period.
After BC grabbed a 68-66 edge, Thorns, the smallest player on the court at 5 feet 9, made a three-pointer from in front of his bench to push the Hokies ahead for good.
"Hank's not afraid. That's why he's here," Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg said. "He has that ability. You can't lead unless you get people to follow. That's who he is."
Thorns, just 1 for 5 from the field with three misses from beyond the arc, knew his shot helped his team relax a bit.
"It was just a confidence booster and got us where we needed to be," he said.
J.T. Thompson and A.D. Vassallo each scored 14 points for the Hokies (12-8, 3-3 ACC) in the team's first win at Conte Forum after six consecutive losses.
Virginia Tech was coming off an 81-64 loss against No. 4 Duke at home on Thursday.
"The second game in three days? If we wanted to make it an issue it's an issue," Greenberg said. "From the second that game ended, I didn't want to hear about 36 hours" between games.
Rakim Sanders added 17 points for the Eagles, including a three-pointer with 3.6 seconds left in regulation that sent the game to overtime.
Cory Raji's two free throws 1 minute 3 seconds into overtime gave BC (12-6, 3-2) its 68-66 lead, but the Hokies scored the next seven points. After Thorns's three-pointer from the left wing, he followed with a breakaway layup and Washington scored in the lane to make it 73-68.
The Eagles closed to 73-70 on Shamari Spears's put-back, but Thorns helped seal it with two free throws in the final 1:20.
"I thought he played good," Rice said. "He came up huge for them in overtime."
¿ UNC WILMINGTON 61, GEORGE MASON 58: Chad Tomko scored 16 points, and Vladimir Kuljanin had 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Seahawks at home. The Patriots lost for the first time in five games.
Todd Hendley, Daniel Fountain and T.J. Carter each scored 10 points for the Seahawks (13-8, 6-3 Colonial Athletic Association), who used a 13-0 second-half run to take the lead for good. Hendley's layup with 9:20 left made it 49-47 and put UNC Wilmington ahead to stay.
John Vaughan had 19 points, Folarin Campbell added 17 points and Will Thomas finished with 14 rebounds for George Mason (14-6, 6-3). After UNC Wilmington's big run, the Patriots could get no closer than three points -- the last time on Campbell's layup with three seconds left.
¿ HOLY CROSS 66, AMERICAN 64: At Bender Arena, Andrew Beinert caught a long rebound and hit a jumper just inside the three-point line with 18.5 seconds left as the Crusaders avoided their worst Patriot League start in nine years.
Tim Clifford led Holy Cross (10-8, 1-4) with 24 points despite playing the last eight minutes with four fouls. The Crusaders' Kyle Cruze and Greg McCarthy each added 10.
Garrison Carr scored 17 points to lead American (11-9, 3-2), which has lost eight in a row to Holy Cross dating back to Feb. 20, 2004. Bryce Simon scored 14 and Brian Gilmore had 10.
¿ DUQUESNE 92, GEORGE WASHINGTON 67: In Pittsburgh, Shawn James had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks as the Dukes reached the 13-win mark for the first time in 14 years.
James, who missed Wednesday's win over St. Bonaventure with a knee injury, finished with a season high in points and raised his career block total to 403. He is the 18th player in NCAA Division I history to record at least 400 blocks.
Kojo Mensah added 13 points for Duquesne (13-5, 3-2 Atlantic 10), which hadn't won 13 games since going 17-13 and making the NIT in 1993-94.
Wynton Witherspoon had 17 points to lead the Colonials (5-10, 1-4), who lost their fourth straight.
¿ MORGAN STATE 69, HOWARD 51 : At Burr Gymnasium, Jamar Smith scored 26 points to lead the Bears.
Marquise Kately added 14 points for Morgan State (10-8, 5-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference).
Randy Hampton scored 16 and Eugene Myatt had 11 for Howard (4-15, 1-4), which has lost 11 of its last 12 games. Hampton scored eight of his points at the free throw line, going 8 for 10.
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