Clutch performer

-- BLACKSBURG -- The shot clock atop the basket at Cassell Coliseum showed 11 seconds, and the game clock just above it showed 25.1.

Virginia Tech point guard Malcolm Delaney dribbled the ball at the top of the key and looked to his right, toward his teammate, wing A.D. Vassallo, for whom this play was designed.

Moments earlier, Delaney made that especially clear to Vassallo. "I told him he had to get me a bucket," Delaney said.

It would be the most important one in yesterday's 78-75 victory over Virginia, a game the Hokies led by 15 points with 4:56 left, by eight with 2:36 remaining, but now by just two.

They couldn't afford to lose this game and fall to 0-2 in the ACC -- not when they almost certainly need to win nine league games to make the NCAA tournament.

Vassallo knew that just as well as he knew his plan for this play. If Virginia wing Mamadi Diane didn't cut him off on the baseline, he'd drive right for a layup. If Diane did, Vassallo would cut right, then try the step-back, fallaway jump shot he hones at the beginning of every practice.

Delaney passed to Vassallo. The clocks ticked. Vassallo saw Diane cut off the baseline, so he did what he envisioned: dribble right, step back, flick wrist. His 15-foot shot swished through the net with 18.3 seconds left, and he nearly fell into the jubilant Tech bench. He punctuated the play in the final seconds by making all four of his free throw attempts, and the Hokies held on for the win.

"It was a must win -- period," said Vassallo, a senior.

The Hokies (1-1 ACC, 10-5) beat their in-state rival despite their third-leading scorer, forward Jeff Allen, shooting 0 for 7 from the field and scoring three points. They did it despite Virginia guard Mustapha Farrakhan almost single-handedly destroying their 15-point lead by scoring 15 points and making four 3-pointers in 3:51.

They won because their top two scorers, Vassallo and Delaney, carried them offensively, scoring 29 and 24 points (14 of Vassallo's came in the final 5:23). They won because wing Terrell Bell kept Virginia's leading scorer, guard Sylven Landesberg, in front of him just often enough to prevent Landesberg, who finished with 20 points, from dominating the game one relentless drive to the basket at a time. And they won because, unlike last Sunday's 69-44 loss at Duke, they responded when their opponent made a run.

"I saw a grittiness," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.

The Hokies didn't show it against Duke, now the nation's second-ranked team. The Blue Devils led Tech by four with 17:33 remaining, then went on a 30-9 run to close the game.

"That was one of the things we talked about in practice the whole week: We can't take punches and not give them back," Delaney said.

They countered several times yesterday in the second half. When Virginia cut Tech's lead to 42-41 with 16:13 left, the Hokies went on a 7-0 run, which Delaney capped with a 3. When Virginia trimmed the score to 51-47 with 9:20 left, the Hokies answered with a 15-4 run to go up 15 with 4:56 remaining. When Farrakhan went on his tear immediately thereafter, Vassallo calmly nailed his step-back jumper.

"That was a big-time shot," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "Big-time shot."

It left the Hokies with breathing room that an 0-2 hole in the ACC wouldn't have afforded them. It helped them forget the Duke game and look toward this week's home games -- Richmond on Wednesday, Boston College on Saturday -- with the sense that, as Delaney said, "we're starting to come together."

"You can't afford to lose a home game," Greenberg said. "You sure can't afford to lose a home game coming off the second half at Duke."