Win Streak Continues as Hokies Win Battle Against Penn State 66-64

Posted by justinc

December 13, 2009

Virginia Tech started hot out of the gate on a 6-0, which would turn out to be the largest lead of the half by either team. The Nittany Lions and their star guard, Talor Battle, came battling back to overtake the Hokies 13-9 at the 14:20 mark.

However, the Hokies managed to go on a 7-0 run themselves and retake a 16-13 lead by the under 12 timeout. The rest of the half would become the Taylor Battle show for Penn State as he scored 19 of his teams 36 points in this half. Penn State led for the majority of the 1^st half but thanks to a late 3 pointer by Malcolm Delaney with 43 seconds left, the Hokies were able to tie up PSU at 36 and head into the half.

The 2^nd half was all Virginia Tech as Tech took the lead on a Jeff Allen 3 pointer at the 18-minute mark and didn’t surrender the lead until less than four minutes left to go in the game. This run was truly made possible by Delaney finding his stroke and scoring 13 of his team high 27 points during this stretch.

With the Nittany Lions leading 59-58 with just over 3:52 left to go, the Hokies were able to convert their free throws and would not surrender the lead the rest of the way. Freshman Erick Green was forced to the free throw line with just under seven seconds left and made one of two to give Tech that two-point lead. However, Battle’s last second layup fell short and Tech was able to pull out their second win against a Big Ten team this season.

The Essentials
VTvsPSU

What Does it All Mean?

This was the game that Seth Greenberg’s bunch couldn’t win. This was the game that the Hokies were destined to lose. This was the game where a big guard on the opposing team would make a big shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. This was the game where all of the Virginia Tech basketball truths, were proven false.

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With time running out, this Hokie team forced star point guard Talor Battle to drive the lane and throw up and out of control layup with just two seconds on the clock. What that shows is that through all of the heartache and all of the bad losses in the past, this team has finally learned how to close out a basketball game. Needless to say, If this game took place last year, Greenberg’s bunch probably would have lost.

With this win, the Hokies are 8-1 and will head into an off week for exams followed by a way too easy three game stretch that includes Charleston Southern, University of Maryland – Baltimore County (I actually had to wiki them to figure out who they were), and Longwood – all of which will be played inside the safety net that is Cassell Coliseum.

If that stretch goes as planned, the Hokies will be 11-1 when they head to Cancun, Mexico for New Years to play Seton Hall. Not bad for a group that was predicted to finish 8^th in the ACC this year.

Bullet Points

The feature matchup in this game was Penn State’s star point guard Talor Battle versus the Hokies Malcolm Delaney. Battle obviously won this matchup as he hit a few more shots than Malcolm but at the end of the game, Delaney’s team won on the scoreboard. The Hokies have had to play, over the last few years, some great players who played on some less than stellar teams. Battle was very impressive and if he can contribute like he did tonight in the rest of Penn State’s games, the Nittany Lions will make the tournament this year.

The inbound pass with six seconds left to Erick Green was the only decision Hudson could have made in that instance. However, I’m not sure why Hudson was the one inbounding since I would have preferred Allen inbounding the ball, which would have allowed Hudson to have been the safety net on that play. That left me scratching my head but it worked out in the end.

I’m fairly certain that I’ll have a bullet point on Ben Boggs after every game this season. Tonight wasn’t his best game so far this season but the minutes he can play and his ability to play defense at this level really gives us a solid option of the bench. Ben didn't score in tonight's game but did have a few shot attempts that just didn't fall. Eventually the light will come on and he's going to have a 15-plus point night before the season is over with.

This win gives the Hokies a perfect 2-0 record against the Big 10 this season. This is good in two ways. First, this is the same Penn State team that dominated UVA earlier this season. Hopefully this foreshadows whats to come when ACC play starts. Also, this same team will be a middle of the pack team in the Big 10 this year. If they find a way to upset Ohio State or Michigan State, it will only help the Hokies come March. This was the one win we needed to have in order to think about making the NCAA tournament and we got it.

Virginia Tech played good defense tonight and while Battle was able to hit a few shots, they held the rest of the team to well below their normal averages. However, the one stat I found astonishing was that in each of Penn State's four losses this year, they have a shooting percentage of 35-percent of less. The Hokies held the Nittany Lions to just 34% in this game.

Stats
VT vs PSU1

Next up

The Hokies will have a bye week of sorts next week, as the Tech students will be finishing up their fall semester exams before they exodus the town for winter break. However, this Tech team will resume play next Saturday at 7 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum against Charleston Southern.