Late-game lapses hamper more often than heroics help Hokies

BLACKSBURG — Late-game excitement has been the norm for Virginia Tech’s men’s basketball team this season. The Hokies win dramatically. They lose dramatically.

That’s been more than evident over the last week. Tech defeated Georgia Tech on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Dorenzo Hudson at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday, but it failed to convert in the closing seconds of Tuesday night’s 61-59 home loss to No. 25 Virginia.

"Excluding one or two hiccups, we’ve had an opportunity to win or lose almost every game we’ve played this season," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said earlier in the week.

That’s just how things have gone for the Hokies (15-13, 4-9 ACC), who sit in ninth place in the ACC standings with a game at No. 5 Duke coming up Saturday. The problem is, they’ve lost more close games than they’ve won. They dropped to 5-8 this season in games decided by four or fewer points, and five of their last six games have come down to the last possession.

The Virginia loss was especially difficult to stomach for the Hokies because they were unable to get a shot off in their final possession.

Freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith tried to pass the ball out to Hudson on the perimeter but Cavaliers freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon deflected the ball and then grabbed the steal with 1.9 seconds remaining.

Tech junior guard Erick Green, who led his team with 19 points, was particularly hard on himself after the game.

"I kind of take the blame. I should have had the ball in my hands," he said.

"I could have gone home and lived with [the loss] if we got a shot off, but I can’t live with the way it kind of ended, not getting a shot off at all," Green added.

The Hokies struggled offensively at the end of the game. They made only one field goal in the final 12:59 and missed some critical free throws with the game still close.

"We just needed to make a basket, and we couldn’t do that the last 13 minutes of the game," Hudson said.

Meanwhile, Virginia went on a 17-2 run in the second half. Guard Jontel Evans capped the run and gave the Cavaliers a 59-51 lead with a questionable banked 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer with 3:04 remaining.

Replay showed that the ball may not have left Evans’ hands before the shot clock expired.

"Jontel’s shot obviously became a huge factor. I don’t know if it counted or not. I was a little bit disappointed, actually, that they didn’t go check the monitor," Greenberg said.

Tech’s flair for the dramatic and hard luck at the end of games is very reminiscent of what it encountered during the 2005-06 season. The Hokies went 4-12 in ACC play and missed the postseason altogether that year, and they lost 10 games by five or fewer points.

The following season, with seniors Jamon Gordon, Zabian Dowdell and Coleman Collins leading the way, Tech went 10-6 in ACC play and made the NCAA Tournament.

The hard lessons learned this season could lead the Hokies to better things next year.

"We’re just going to keep coaching these guys and hopefully continue to mature," Greenberg said. "I think strength is going to be a big factor. We’ve still got a lot of basketball to play. Hopefully we can close out some games down the stretch."