If you are going to accuse a team of an scary ugly win, this isn’t THAT game. It was a bit scary because it was a full on battle from the tip-off and things never got out of had but this particular Virginia Tech Hokie Men’s Basketball Team seems bound to continue to look to the bench and pull rabbits out of odd hats.

Miami was 7-10 and bumping along the bottom 1/3rd of the ACC. They’ve been good sometimes, but are looking at an inconsistency hole on the negative side of the score sheet. After a road loss in Pittsburgh, the Hokies were ripe for a second away game hit.

Well, that wasn’t going to be the case this afternoon in Coral Gables. The Hokies and the ‘Canes battled a close contest into the half. Virginia Tech went into the break with a slim 3-point lead 31-28. The Hurricanes simply would not go away. Miami managed to outscore the Hokies by 3 points (would have been 6) In the second half.

It was a classic case of short time clock management being done to perfection. Mike Young and the Hokies found themselves down three points (71-73) with a half-court inbound and around one second left on the clock. Wabissa Bede bounced a wicked and perfect pass to Hunter Cattoor who pulled off a perfect turning 3 point jumper from just outside the stripe. You could almost hear the swish as regulation ran out and the Hokies managed to push it into OT.

Overtime continued with the back and forth battle right up until the period got within the final minute. With 25 seconds left in the OT period, Nahiem Alleyne hit a critical go ahead jumper that Tech stretched by two more precious points to keep the game just out of Miami’s reach by the end of the period.

This game was a team and bench effort but there is little doubt that Justyn Mutts had his time to shine. Four players ended up in double digits; but Mutts managed 22, and almost grabbed a double-double with 9 rebounds.

Other Efforts to note:

Joe Bamisile checked in with a 10 point effort and made a big difference. Of course Keve Aluma not only scored 16, but managed the screen game, and played big inside. His outside shooting was a big disappointing goose-egg, but he grabbed 6 boards and made 6 of his 7 free throw attempts. Hunter Cattoor put up 14 and even managed 2 blocks. And Alleyne’s 2-3 from 3 and that critical jumper to go ahead in OT put some serious wood on the fire.

Even though there were solid standout performances, this was another team win, and as you can see by the roster listing for the game, the bench was seriously short, today.

Next up, the Hokies come back to Cassell to host the Louisville Cardinals to see if Tech can even up the record for the season. That game will be a week from today at noon. Remember the Tuesday Florida State game had to be postponed due to COVID related issues. The end of the season is going to be an interesting scheduling and rescheduling act of total mayhem.

Let’s hope the week break and some practice time at home will get the Hokies ready to beat the Cardinals.

GO HOKIES!!!