Virginia Tech Legs Out A Win
Published: Mar 10, 2007
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TAMPA - Right around 11 p.m. Friday, Wake Forest's legs began to go. It wasn't surprising, considering the Demon Deacons had been on the Forum floor engineering a masterpiece a mere 22 hours earlier.
But it wasn't just fatigue that forced the 11th-seeded Deacons to succumb to No. 3 seed Virginia Tech, 71-52, in the second-round finale.
The senior-dominated Hokies had experience. The freshman-led Deacons (15-16) had relatively little.
The Hokies (21-10) had legs. Wake Forest, pressed to the limit by Georgia Tech in a double-overtime thriller that ended at 12:53 a.m. Friday, had had enough.
"They just did things better," said Wake coach Skip Prosser. "Fatigue was not a factor."
Virginia Tech, which faces No. 10 seed N.C. State today at approximately 4 p.m., won for the first time in three tries in the ACC Tournament, giving Coach Seth Greenberg his first appearance in a conference semifinal since he was with the Big West's Long Beach State in 1996.
"I'm so happy for our seniors," Greenberg said. "These guys transitioned us into the ACC, and it's appropriate that they should be a part of something like that."
The Hokies took control with a 12-0 run that began with 12:47 to play, when sophomore A.D. Vassallo (game-high 22 points) tipped home a missed shot in traffic. Junior Deron Washington took over at that point, scoring the game's next six points to help open up a double-digit lead.
And senior Zabian Dowdell capped the spurt with Tech's third consecutive fast-break layup, making it 59-42 with 9:32 to play.
At that point, Wake Forest simply could no longer keep up with the fresher, more athletic Hokies, who committed only two turnovers - the second-fewest ever in an ACC Tournament game, and the fewest since N.C. State had only one turnover against Duke in a semifinal victory in 1968.
"You have to look at one stat, and that's points off turnovers," said Prosser, whose team turned it over 18 times and was outscored, 25-3, on turnovers. "Our ball security tonight was a major factor."
And it didn't help that the Demon Deacons lost their 3-point magic. After shooting 69 percent from beyond the arc against the Yellow Jackets, Wake went 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range against Virginia Tech.
There was, surprisingly, life in the Deacons in the first half. The Hokies broke out to an early lead by forcing the issue, clearly trying to take advantage of their quickness and fresh legs.
Senior center Kyle Visser took advantage of the absence of Virginia Tech center Coleman Collins (two early fouls) to score 12 first-half points, helping the Deacons keep it close at 36-34 at intermission.
Visser finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in his career finale.
Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.
