Just being in the top 25 is amazing. Just three days after beating No. 21 Virginia in triple overtime, the short-handed Hokies return to action on Saturday to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. A Wake Forest 3-pointer with six seconds left gave Tech an 81-78 loss, ending any chance of back-to-back ACC victories.
Wake’s win ended Virginia Tech’s six-game winning streak, and the Hokies improved to 12-3, 1-1 on the season.
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The Demon Deacons dominated the first half, with Tech uncharacteristically committing 14 turnovers. It didn’t help that small forward Amani Hansberry and freshman center Christian Gurdak each picked up three fouls in the first half. If it weren’t for linebacker Jailen Bedford, the D’Akers might have pushed the Hokies out of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Stadium within the first 20 minutes. He scored 11 points in the first half, including three three-pointers, and scored a game-high 25 points.
Despite everything going against them in the first half, the scrappy Hokies still managed to make it 36-32 at halftime.
The Hokies came out hot in the second half, and Wake Forest made a big shot every time they had the ball. Nate Calmese, who was shooting high, tied Bedford for the lead among all scorers with 25 points. Kalmes arrived late to the big three.
With about 10 minutes left in the game, it looked like the Demon Dicks were about to pull away when Sebastian Akins hit a jumper to make it 58-50. That’s when Virginia Tech would hit its biggest climax, scoring 12 points to take a four-point lead with 7:21 left in the game. It was the first time the Hokies had taken the lead.
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Wake Forest will fight back to take the lead, with both teams going back and forth. Whenever the Hokies needed to score, Bedford provided help. With 1 minute and 24 seconds left in the game, Hansberry hit a three-pointer and VT led 74-73. Wake scored on an old-fashioned 3-pointer on the next possession before Goodacre tied the game at 76 with 49 seconds left. The Dickies would miss their next shot, but got two offensive rebounds before Calmes hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to put the Wake up by three. Neoklis Avdalas hit two free throws for the Hokies and Calmese added two more for the Demon Deacons to secure the win.
Bedford led the Hokies with 25 points, and Hansberry added a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. Sophomore guard Ben Hammond came off the bench and scored 14 points. It was another tough day for Avdalas, who managed just eight points. After a season-high 21 field goals against Virginia, he took just five shots. Avdalas also had seven assists and a career-high seven turnovers. The high turnover was very unusual for him.
Virginia Tech hosts Stanford on Wednesday at Cassel Coliseum. The Hokies were again without Toby LaVar, Tyler Johnson and Antonio Doan. Head coach Mike Young did say they have a chance to get LaVar back on Wednesday.
