GWU Upset Bid Falls Just Short, 65-62, At Virginia Tech
November 14, 2008 | Men's Basketball
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Aaron Linn's 27-footer bounced just off
the mark Friday night at the buzzer, as Gardner-Webb's upset bid at
Virginia Tech fell short, 65-62.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (0-1) trailed by 10 points with 5:34 to play,
63-53, but went on a methodic 7-0 run over the next three-plus
minutes to cut the Hokies' lead to 63-60 on Anton Silver's three
pointer with 1:56 left. GWU's Grayson Flittner stole the ball on
Virginia Tech's next possession, but the Bulldogs missed a pair of
layups in close on the ensuing possession – and Tech regained
control of the basketball.
A steal inside by Auryn MacMillan with 45 seconds left gave
Gardner-Webb another shot to pull closer, and Aaron Linn connected
on a pair of free throws with 24 ticks left to make the score
63-62. Malcolm Delany was fouled, and made both free throws for the
Hokies to put the hosts back up by three – but Gardner-Webb
would have plenty of time to attempt to tie the game.
Flittner worked himself open after a timeout for a long three with
12 seconds left, but the shot was just off the mark – and
Flittner's offensive rebound and second trey attempt was blocked
seconds later. Virginia Tech was fouled, but Delaney missed the
free throw with 4.0 seconds left – allowing Linn to grab the
rebound and race up court with enough time to get off a good look
at the basket. The shot barely missed, sending a resounding sigh of
relief through the home crowd at Cassell Coliseum.
Virginia Tech (1-0) led 40-26 at the half, but could never put the
Bulldogs away. GWU fell behind by 18 after a series of missed shots
led to easy Tech buckets early in the second half, but a zone
defense seemed to tighten the Hokies' offense, and allowed
Gardner-Webb to slowly creep within striking distance.
The ‘Dogs got within single digits with more than seven
minutes to play, and didn't let the Hokies' lead bulge to more than
10 points the rest of the way.
Flittner paced Gardner-Webb offensively, scoring 21 points (17 in
the first half) on 5-of-14 shooting from deep. The Sharpsville,
Ind., native also hauled in a career-high nine rebounds and had
three steals in 40 minutes of action. Linn added 13 points, six
rebounds and three assists – and GWU got 12 points apiece from
Auryn MacMillan (nine rebounds) and Silver.
Gardner-Webb shot just 36.4 percent for the game (24-for-66), but
held Virginia Tech to 38.7 percent in what proved to be a defensive
struggle at times. GWU held Virginia Tech to just 29.6 percent in
the second half (8-for-27), and 2-for-12 from deep.
The much smaller Bulldogs proved feisty on the glass,
out-rebounding the tall, athletic Hokies by a 44-38 margin. True
freshman Joshua Henley, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound forward, led all
players on the boards with 10 caroms (all defensive).
Gardner-Webb was victimized by 18 turnovers, which Virginia Tech
turned into 24 points (16 fast break points).
Jeff Allen and A.D. Vassallo led Virginia Tech . 19 points, with
Allen scoring 17 in the opening half. Delaney added 15 points, but
shot just 4-of-14 from the floor. Allen added nine rebounds and
Vassallo had six assists in the game.
Gardner-Webb will travel to face Longwood in a non-conference test
on Tuesday, November 18 at 7 pm ET in Farmville, Va.
