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Virginia Tech holds off Miami

Jan 24, 2007 - 7:05 AM CORAL GABLES, Florida (Ticker) -- Former Big East Conference rivals Virginia Tech and Miami showed they haven't forgotten their roots.

Zabian Dowdell scored a season-high 30 points to lead the 23rd-ranked Hokies to a 92-85 victory over the Hurricanes in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.

The physical encounter was reminiscent of their pre-ACC days, as the teams combined for 48 free-throw attempts in the second half alone.

Virginia Tech (14-5, 5-1 ACC) got the better of the foul-shooting drill, converting 34-of-42, including 15-of-18 by Dowdell, to win for the seventh time in eight games.

Miami (9-12, 2-5), which tumbled to its fourth straight loss, finished 19-of-21 from the stripe, although the Hurricanes were 17-of-19 after intermission.

The Hokies, who are off to their best start since opening the 1995-96 season at 17-2, jumped out to a 17-4 lead and led by 17 points before a pair of 3-pointers by Denis Clemente got the Hurricanes within 42-29 at halftime.

Dowdell scored 13 points as Virginia Tech went 6-of-9 from the arc and missed just one of 13 free throws in the opening 20 minutes.

Four straight free throws by Dowdell gave Virginia Tech a 64-51 lead midway through the second half, but Miami answered with an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to 68-62 on Jack McClinton's 3-pointer with 7:29 left.

Clemente supplied almost all the offense in the first half for the Hurricanes with 15 points, but his teammates started to find the range in the second half.

McClinton scored 16 of his 18 points after the intermission while Raymond Hicks netted 14 of his 16 to put Miami in position for the upset.

The Hurricanes twice got the lead down to four points - both times on jumpers by McClinton - and trailed, 82-77, following a pair of foul shots by Hicks with 1:27 to play.

Ten seconds later, Deron Washington converted a three-point play and then added another with 52 seconds remaining to extend the margin to 88-79.

Washington finished with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting as the Hokies shot 58 percent (25-of-43) from the field. He scored 17 points in the second half and also pulled down 10 rebounds for the game.

Clemente scored 24 points for Miami, which committed just eight turnovers but was 6-of-24 (25 percent) from the arc.