Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

Local Sports

Discussion

February 5, 2010

Weather doesn’t stop D-I hoops

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD — The weather is frightening, but the basketballs continue to bounce.

Here’s a look at today’s college basketball action:

•All students are being admitted free today at Cassell Coliseum, as Virginia Tech takes on Clemson in an Atlantic Coast Conference tilt at 4 p.m.

The Hokies (17-4, 4-3) are coming off a 74-70 win over struggling North Carolina on Thursday, while the Tigers (16-6, 4-4) defeated Maryland 62-53 last Sunday.

Virginia Tech is currently fifth in the ACC standings, 1 1/2 games behind first place Duke, while Clemson is tied for sixth, and 2 games back.

Malcolm Delaney leads the Hokies, scoring 19.8 points a game, while also dishing out 4.2 assists. Dorenzo Hudson (13.7) and Jeff Allen (11.3 ppg 7.6 reb) are also double figure contributors for Virginia Tech.

Clemson is led by Trevor Booker, who tallied 15.8 points and 8.6 rebounds a contest. Demontez Stitt (11.2 ppg, 3.5 ast) and Tanner Smith (10.0 ppg, 4.3 reb) will also led the Tigers against the Hokies.

•West Virginia (18-3, 7-2), ranked sixth in the nation, will travel today to play Big East foe St. John’s. Tip-off is slated for noon.

The Mountaineers, having defeated Pittsburgh 70-51 on Wednesday, look for their sixth win in a row against the Red Storm (12-9, 2-7). While West Virginia is in third place in the Big East, St. John’s is 14th out of 16 teams.

Four Mountaineers are in double figures in scoring, led by Da’Sean Butler (16.6 ppg, 6.6 reb), Kevin Jones (14.2 ppg, 7.6 reb), Devin Ebanks (11.1 ppg, 8.6 reb) and Darryl Bryant (10.6 ppg, 3.5 ast).

St. John’s, which dropped an 84-72 decision at 15th place Rutgers on Tuesday, is led by D.J. Kennedy (15.5 ppg, 6.5 reb) and Dwight Hardy (11.5 ppg).

•Marshall will try to snap a five-game losing streak tonight by hosting East Carolina in a Conference USA Clash at 7 p.m.

The Thundering Herd (15-7, 4-4), currently tied for fifth with Houston behind first place Tulsa, have dropped four of their last five to teams with a combined mark of 70-17.

East Carolina (7-15, 1-7), which is currently tied for last place with Rice, trails all-time series with Marshall 9-4.

The Herd, which is playing without suspended point guard Damier Pitts, is led by Tyler Wilkinson (13.0 ppg, 6.7 reb), who scored a career-high 26 points in a 73-69 loss to Tulsa on Wednesday.

Hassan Whiteside (12.9 ppg, 8.9) continues to have stellar freshman campaign, while Shaquille Johnson is canning 11 points a contest.

East Carolina, which lost its fourth straight to Marshall in an 83-65 home loss on Jan. 9, is paced by Brock Young (14.6 ppg, 6.0 ast), who had 26 points in that contest.

•The University of Virginia (15-6, 5-2), which defeated North Carolina State 59-47 on Wednesday, will host Wake Forest (15-5, 5-3) today at noon.

Wake Forest beat the Cavaliers (69-57 on Jan. 23 to knock Virginia out of first place in the ACC. The Cavaliers are tied for second place with Maryland, a half-game behind Duke. The Deacons sit alone in fourth.

Virginia swept North Carolina and N.C. State in less than a week, rebounding from consecutive losses to the Deacons and Virginia Tech.

Sylven Landesburg led Virginia in scoring (17.6) and assists (2.9), while Mike Scott has tallied 13.2 points and 7.3 rebounds a game.

Sammy Zeglinski scores 10.4 a contest.

Wake Forest is led by Al-Farouq Amini (16.3 ppg, 11.2 reb), Ishmael Smith (13.3 ppg, 5.8 ast) and C.J. Harris (11-3).

•In West Virginia Conference action today, Bluefield State (3-10, 3-15) will play at Pitt-Johnstown (10-9, 6-8) at 7:30 p.m.

In the earlier women’s game, the Lady Blues (1-18, 1-13) will play UPJ, which is 10-9 and 7-7 in the WVIAC.

Concord’s trip to Shepherd was postponed due to the weather.

In the AAC, Bluefield College’s visit to Union will now be played on Monday in Kentucky.

—Contact Brian Woodson

bwoodson@bdtonline.com









Text Only
Local Sports