Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Virginia Tech
Deacons Suffer Home Loss To Hokies
1/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - A.D. Vassallo scored a career-high 29 points as Virginia Tech beat Wake Forest 76-70 Saturday for its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season.
Jamon Gordon added 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Hokies (11-9, 1-6), who overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half to snap a five-game losing streak.
Zabian Dowdell had 11 points and Wynton Witherspoon scored 10 for the Hokies. Vassallo, who averaged 4.2 points per game, also pulled down 10 rebounds.
Vassallo started in place of Deron Washington, who was suspended for Saturday's game after he drove his foot into the face of a Duke player Thursday when both were laying on the floor.
Washington, third in scoring for the Hokies at 10.9 points per game, was ejected from Thursday's 80-67 loss to the No. 2 Blue Devils for a flagrant foul.
Trent Strickland scored 23 points for the Demon Deacons (12-8, 1-6), who fell into a tie with the Hokies for last place in the league standings.
Michael Drum had 17 points, Eric Williams scored 12 and Harvey Hale posted 10 for Wake Forest, which played without leading scorer Justin Gray, who sat out after coming down with a stomach virus Saturday morning, according to a school spokesman.
It was the first game that Gray - the ACC's second-leading scorer at 19.6 points - had missed since his freshman season with the Demon Deacons, when he was out eight games with a broken jaw.
Despite Gray's absence, Wake Forest led 38-35 at the half, then opened the second half with a 9-point run, going up 47-35 with 16:53 left on Drum's fifth 3-pointer of the game.
Wake Forest led by 11 points when Vassallo and Gordon combined for 11 points during a 13-0 run that put the Hokies up 57-56 with 8:22 left, the team's first lead since the opening minutes of the first half.
The teams swapped the lead five times and tied the score once before Gordon stripped Strickland of the ball, feeding Witherspoon for a fast-break layup that put the Hokies up 67-65 with 4:04 remaining.
The Demon Deacons stayed within three points until the final 26 seconds, as Virginia Tech closed out the game by hitting 5-of-6 from the line.
