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In a very hostile environment, the Hokies fell short on Friday night. The Hokies escaped against Princeton, but the B.Y.U. Cougars proved too tough to tame. The game started out frantic, with both teams pushing tempo. B.Y.U. raced out early. After some great steals and finishes by Seth Allen, the Hokies trailed by just three points with 9:06 left in the half. The Hokies did a great job of weathering the early energy supplied by the crowd. The Hokies got it to a tie with 6:36 left. Zach LeDay continued his hot play and had some huge buckets in the first half. The Hokies were pushing an uptempo offense and were the much more aggressive team. On an daring drive by Seth Allen, the Hokies took their first lead of the ball game with 5 minutes until halftime. With just 3 minutes left in the opening half, Tech found itself in another dogfight. Brigham Young was known as a great three point team, and the Hokies were doing a great job with the perimeter defense until the end of the half. After two LONG threes, B.Y.U. was up by 4 with 11.9 seconds in the half.Tech had one more possession, but couldn't convert.
HALF: #Hokies trail BYU 38-34 at halftime@ZachLeDay32 leads VT with 10 points, 5 boards, 2 blocks#BeatBYU pic.twitter.com/jV3Gse9zUc
— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) March 19, 2016
The second half began eerily reminiscent of the first. The Cougars tried to nuke the Hokies with energy and pace, but this time Tech was ready. The Hokies calmed the second half storm early, and with 18:01 left in the game, the Hokies trailed by four. The Hokies were trying a triangle and two defense fresh out of the locker room. The Hokies were not giving any quarter, limiting B.Y.U. to any big runs. With 12:32 left in the game, the Hokies were trailing by just three, but needed to make a significant move. With every big basket from B.Y.U., the Hokies seemed to have an answer. Freshman Kerry Blackshear Jr had a clutch basket after the Cougars hit a three. With 11 minutes left, the Hokies were in the 1 and 1, and needed to make clutch free throws if we had a chance. The Hokies aggressive, attacking style was starting to pay off. The crowd was getting back into the loud game when LeDay silenced them with an "and 1". The game had a pressure feel to it with with the crowd ready to explode for any reason. With 7:55 left, the Hokies had a slim one point edge.
Kyle Collinsworth from B.Y.U. was having a huge night. He was chasing a triple double into the second half. The teams were trading blows like a heavyweight title bout. B.Y.U. hits a three? The Hokies have an answer! It was really intense and entertaining. The Hokies just couldn't convert free throws when they needed them. Virginia Tech had 13 turnovers in the game. They seemed to come at the absolute worst times. The Hokies trailed by two with only one minute left in the season. Zach LeDay had a huge block to give the Hokies a chance, and Seth Allen was blocked at our end. With only 25.2 left in the game and B.Y.U. having the ball, Tech had limited options. Tech got lucky with B.Y.U. only hitting one of two free throws, but Tech was still fighting an uphill battle. Virginia Tech was down by three points with only 9.2 left in the game. Blackshear was fouled, and missed both. The Hokies season was over. Hokies fall 80-77.