North Carolina couldn't control its second-half turnovers last night and couldn't prevent Virginia Tech from grabbing crucial offensive rebounds in another ACC loss.
Virginia Tech won 74-70 in madcap Cassell Coliseum to drive the Tar Heels further down the ACC standings. Virginia Tech held UNC to two field goals in the final 7:38, and salted away the win by making five of six foul shots in the final 36 seconds.
Malcolm Delaney's two free throws built the Hokies' lead to 71-67. The Tar Heels had one last chance to cut into the lead and went to Will Graves, their best outside shooter.
Graves was back on the floor after leaving briefly to have an ankle taped. He had the ball on the left wing and got a good look, but his 3-point try rolled in and then popped out, with Jeff Allen rebounding for the Hokies.
"It would have been fun had Will's 3-point shot had stayed in," said Coach Roy Williams of North Carolina. "But when things are going tough, they usually do spin out like that."
Allen and Terrell Bell combined for three free throws to build Virginia Tech's lead to 74-67 with 4.6 seconds left to seal the win. Larry Drew hit a 3-pointer for UNC at the buzzer.
The Tar Heels fell 13-9 overall and 2-5 in the ACC, losing for the sixth time in eight games. The Hokies are 17-4 and 4-3.
Ed Davis led UNC with 15 points and seven rebounds, and John Henson contributed 14 points off the bench. Malcolm Delaney led Virginia Tech with 21 points and hit two of the biggest shots of the second half.
Virginia Tech led 48-47 when Delaney hit back-to-back 3-pointers. His first shot padded the lead to four points, and the second made it a seven-point difference. More than 12 minutes remained, but North Carolina had to fight back from an even bigger hole.
UNC cut the lead to 66-64 with 3:38 left but got no closer. Allen hit a foul shot to make the lead three points, and then scored on a six-footer in the lane after the last of UNC's 10 turnovers in the second half.
North Carolina forged a 40-36 rebounding edge but 10 of Virginia Tech's 21 rebounds in the second half were on offense. Virginia Tech scored 10 points on follow shots in the second half and 14 for the game.
"To me the big key in the second half was we had a couple of just silly unforced turnovers," Williams said. "And they really hurt us on the backboard. It's tough what we're going through; no question about that."
UNC led 35-33 at halftime and twice led by four points early in the second half. The last lead was 39-35 with 18:10 left. Deon Thompson picked up his fourth foul 19 seconds later, drawing two fouls four seconds apart, and Williams took him out.
bcole@wsjournal.com.
UNC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Strickland 15 0-2 1-2 1-7 1 1 1
Drew II 35 3-7 2-2 0-1 6 2 9
Graves 23 1-7 2-2 1-5 0 0 4
Thompson 22 3-7 2-5 3-6 1 5 8
Davis 31 4-7 7-11 2-7 0 4 15
Ginyard 31 2-7 1-2 1-4 2 0 6
McDonald 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Henson 14 5-6 4-4 0-1 0 3 14
DWear 16 5-7 0-0 2-4 1 3 12
TWear 12 0-3 1-2 2-3 1 1 1
Totals 200 23-53 20-30 13-40 12 19 70
Percentages: FG .434, FT .667; 3-Point Goals: 4-15, .267 (D.Wear 2-3, Drew II 1-3, Ginyard 1-4, Henson 0-1, Graves 0-4); Team Rebounds: 2; Blocked Shots: 3 (Davis 3); Turnovers: 19 (Ginyard 4, Drew II 4, Strickland 3, Graves 3, Thompson 2, Henson, D.Wear, Davis); Steals: 3 (Ginyard, Drew II, Graves); Technical Fouls: None.
VA. T Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Hudson 37 6-13 3-3 0-1 3 2 17
Delaney 32 6-17 7-7 1-1 5 4 21
Allen 29 4-14 6-9 3-7 2 4 14
Bell 28 2-6 2-3 3-11 3 4 6
Davila 21 3-4 0-0 3-6 0 4 6
Raines 8 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Green 21 0-5 0-0 0-0 3 1 0
Witcher 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Atkins 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Thompson 18 4-6 0-0 3-6 0 4 8
Totals 200 26-67 18-22 14-36 16 24 74
Percentages: FG .388, FT .818; 3-Point Goals: 4-19, .211 (Hudson 2-5, Delaney 2-9, Allen 0-1, Bell 0-1, Green 0-3); Team Rebounds: 3; Blocked Shots: 4 (Davila 2, Green, Bell); Turnovers: 10 (Thompson 2, Hudson 2, Bell, Green, Raines, Witcher, Allen, Delaney); Steals: 8 (Allen 4, Green, Hudson, Bell, Delaney); Technical Fouls: None.
North Carolina 35 35 -- 70
Virginia Tech 33 41 -- 74
A--9,847
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