Hokies Can't Quite Get Over the Hump, Fall to Northwestern 81-79 in Overtime

Facing a nine-point deficit at the break, the Hokies clawed back valiantly against Northwestern and forced overtime at Cassell Coliseum in the 2015 edition of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

But after swapping leads early in the extra period, Northwestern's Bryant McIntosh finessed the game-winning layup around the outstretched arms of Satchel Pierce with just 27 seconds left on the clock to lift the Wildcats to an 81-79 victory.

Northwestern, who entered the night averaging just 68 points per game against Power 5 opponents, put up 45 in the first half alone, leaving the Hokies wondering "What could have been?"

"It was all defense," said Seth Allen. "They shot 57% in the first half. It's like nobody's guarding them. We gotta do a better job of playing all 40 minutes."

Allen led all scorers with 25 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. After a lackluster start to his career in maroon and orange, Allen is beginning to look like his old Maryland-self. Allen's shot selection could still improve, but while several Hokies are dangerous in one aspect of the game, Allen combines a penchant to get to the rim with unlimited range from the perimeter.

"I'm definitely getting more comfortable," said Allen, surely a frightening prospect for teams throughout the ACC.

Chris Clarke notched his second-consecutive double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, but the supremely athletic freshman threw up contested shot after contested shot in the lane.

"I would say we want all those guys to be a little more efficient," said Buzz Williams. "Not to be Herm Edwards, but the goal is to win. We need to become much more efficient at what we're doing defensively and offensively."

Along with Allen, Devin Wilson ate up most of the minutes at the point guard position, leaving Justin Robinson just 8 minutes of run. Wilson took full advantage of his 31 minutes as he quietly turned in a 5 assist night while providing the Hokies with some much-needed defense.

"I think he's one of the best defensive rotation guards in the country," said Williams. "I think he's one of the better throw it ahead in transition guards. We got too many guys that the ball sticks in their hands. It doesn't stick in his hand. And he overcompensates for a lot of the deficiencies that we have on the weakside defensively."

Pierce, mostly non-existent through six games, matched up with Northwestern center Alex Olah throughout the night and held his own. Pierce could stand to be more active defensively, especially as a shot blocking presence in the interior, but Williams remained pleased with the sophomore's performance.

"I thought the matchup was good," said Williams when asked what led to Pierce's increased minutes. "I thought Satch played great...I think it says a lot about his character to sit over there and not play for three games and then come in and be as productive as he was."

Former Hokie Joey van Zegeren made his return to Blacksburg this evening, and, in a shocking turn of events, nearly fouled out early in the second half. The Dutch native did turn around his homecoming late in the second half with two rim-rattling dunks, but van Zegeren has seen limited playing time — just above 13 minutes per game — thus far in his new home.

The Hokies' defensive woes plagued them once again in the first half as poor rotations and hesitant closeouts let the Wildcats repeatedly beat them from deep.

Perhaps no player better highlighted the Hokies' deficiencies than Northwestern's Nathan Taphorn, who entered the evening with 8 field goals on the year, 7 of them of the three point variety. Despite that anomaly undoubtedly being highlighted on the scouting report, Taphorn knocked in a trio of threes and finished the night with 11 points.

On the back of Taphorn — along with standout guards Tre Demps and Bryant McIntosh — the Wildcats went into the break with a 45-36 lead.

But after a halftime talk from Williams, the Hokies' defense drastically improved as they began to defend Northwestern's bevy of sharpshooters with a greater sense of urgency.

"Just getting dialed into our scouting report," said Clarke of the improved second half defense. "We knew they had a lot of shooters. We were going under screens a lot in the first half. That's basically what we keyed on."

The Hokies inched back into the game midway through the half and managed to tie the game at 58 with 8:45 to play. But on the very next possession, Taphorn got away from the Hokies' defense once again and drilled a backbreaking three.

It seemed as if the experienced Wildcats would pull away at the under four media timeout, but Allen scored 5 points in a two minute span to even the game up at 73 with under a minute remaining. Neither team could muster up a game-winning bucket at the end of regulation, so the Cassell crowd of nearly 5,000 was treated to five minutes of free basketball.

The Hokies jumped on the Wildcats early in overtime, but two Northwestern three pointers erased Tech's short-lived four-point lead. Justin Bibbs tied the game back up at 79 with a short floater, and after each team traded empty possessions, McIntosh found the ball in his hands with the shot clock dwindling away. McIntosh, as he did throughout the night, made something out of nothing and tossed in a layup with 27 seconds left on the clock to put the Wildcats up by two.

Williams quickly called a timeout and drew up a final play, but Allen lost control of the ball at the top of the key and a mad scramble ensued. Somehow, Clarke ended up with a decent look in the short corner, but his shot bounced off the rim and the Wildcats escaped with the victory.

"It was some of the stuff we ran last year in that type of situation," said Williams of the game's final play. "We didn't execute it. Demps did a great job of bottling Seth up. You have to be able to go somewhere on the bounce in that play, otherwise it doesn't work. So it stalled out pretty quick and we probably dribbled 11 times and then threw up a prayer."

With three non-conference games remaining before getting a week off for final exams, the Hokies will need to recover quickly from a disheartening overtime loss. But Allen, a redshirt junior who has been through the rigors of an ACC schedule, thinks the Hokies can overcome this setback.

"This is a learning experience. We can't go anywhere but up from here," said Allen. "Northwestern was a tougher team tonight. We gotta just keep on moving on. We played hard. We played with all we got. But it takes more."