Hokies' 15-Point Lead Evaporates in Loss to Clemson

BLACKSBURG, Va., Jan. 29 -- With seconds remaining in Thursday night's game against Clemson, Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg prepared to kick a spot on the scorer's table that had become a frequent target for his right foot, but he restrained himself. It would be a pointless gesture, as the Hokies' fate was all but sealed and impulsive anger would quickly give way to abject analysis.

Plus, the scorer's table received enough of Greenberg's frustration during the previous 17 minutes, when Virginia Tech surrendered a 15-point lead during an 86-82 loss to the No. 12 Tigers. It was another devastating setback in a season that has included too many chewed nails and lost leads.

Considering that the Hokies entered Thursday on a five-game winning streak and Clemson could have been the third marquee team Virginia Tech had vanquished in eight days, the loss might have been more devastating than the one Nov. 21, when the Hokies fell on a half-court shot to Xavier, and a painful buzzer-beater to Wisconsin on Dec. 1. The Hokies (14-6, 4-2 ACC) have now lost five games by a combined 12 points, and missed an opportunity to entrench themselves among the ACC's teams to beat.

"We had them," guard Malcolm Delaney said, "but we let them go."

Delaney sat outside the team's locker room after the game wondering what transpired. He had just put on the finest performance of his college career, scoring 37 points on 11-of-17 shooting. But he focused only on the second-half collapse. After Delaney's layup gave the Hokies a 63-48 lead with 16 minutes 40 seconds remaining, Virginia Tech did not score again for nearly seven minutes. During that time, Clemson (18-2, 4-2) went on an 18-0 run.

Virginia Tech struggled to make a defensive stop, which prevented the Hokies from running the transition offense that helped spur a 53-44 halftime lead. K.C. Rivers led Clemson with 29 points, seven of which came during the game-changing run.

"It's all about getting stops," Greenberg said. "If you get stops, you score. You don't get stops, it's hard to score."

Clemson switched from its trademark full-court press into a 1-3-1 half-court zone in the second half. Greenberg said the defense did not prevent the Hokies from finding open shots, but their shooting percentage slipped from 60.6 percent in the first half to 38.5 percent in the second half.

Yet Virginia Tech recovered, and Delaney hit a three-pointer to break a 76-76 tie with 3:25 remaining. A stop on the defensive end would have been crucial, and it appeared that would be the case when center Victor Davila blocked a shot with one second remaining on the shot clock.

The ensuing inbounds pass was deflected, yet no time elapsed from the shot clock. This gave Clemson another opportunity, and Tigers forward-center Trevor Booker grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a layup to make something out of the critical possession.

"That was probably the game right there," Delaney said. "We get a stop there, force them maybe to foul there or get a bucket, go up five, that's a big turnaround there."

Had the result been different, Thursday would have been remembered as Delaney's night. He finished the first half with a 60-foot buzzer-beater, the type of shot in which Virginia Tech is usually the victim and seldom the culprit. After two of his three second-half three-pointers, the snarl often on the face of the Baltimore native turned into a snicker. Even he was impressed by his deft shooting touch during the game, but he did not want to acknowledge his accomplishment after the game.

"I don't even really care about that right now," Delaney said. "We lost the game. That's out the window right now."

Virginia Tech now faces a quick turnaround with a visit to Boston College on Saturday. The Hokies beat the Eagles on Jan. 17, the first of a difficult three-game stretch against teams lingering at the top in the ACC. Saturday's game begins a six-game stretch that includes five opponents in the bottom half of the ACC standings, but the prestige of the team would have been greatly enhanced had it just held on to Thursday's 15-point lead in the game's final 17 minutes.

"I knew it was going to be tough, but we had the game in our hands," Delaney said. "If we won the game, we could have come out, hopefully, as a top 25 team."