Hokies Rally For Improbable Last-Second Win Over Florida State

Erick Green #11, Malcolm Delaney #23 and Paul Debnam.

The bookends for today’s ACC Tournament quarternfinals were last second game-winning shots – North Carolina’s final shot with 1/10 of a second left beat the buzzer while Derwin Kithcen’s potential game winner lingered on the last few cells of his fingerprints just long enough to help the Hokies get one step further away from the dreaded Big Dance bubble.

Erick Green hit the go-ahead jumper with 4.7 seconds left, while Derwin Kitchen’s desperation shot at the buzzer was waved off as Virginia Tech edged Florida State 52-51 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Friday night.

Derwin Kitchen

Green was just 1 for 12 from the field for the sixth-seeded Hokies (21-10) before taking a feed from Malcolm Delaney and calmly sinking a jumper near the 3-point arc. The third-seeded Seminoles (21-10) called timeout and inbounded to Kitchen, who dribbled into the right corner before launching a fadeaway over a defender at the horn.

The ball dropped through the net and the officials initially called it good, sending the Seminoles spilling oncourt to mob Kitchen. Meanwhile, Delaney and Green walked to midcourt with their hands on their heads in disbelief.

But officials soon reviewed the replays and reversed the call.

The Hokies managed just 19 points in the first half and shot free throws like Stevie Wonder, but they came out for the second frame with a different mindset and ground out an important win.