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Overtime agony for Virginia Tech as Wake wins ACC Tournament opener
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- Overtime agony for Virginia Tech as Wake wins ACC Tournament opener
Wake Forest survived two last-second shots by Virginia Tech in regulation to pull out a 95-89 overtime win in the opening round of the ACC Tournament March 10.
Wake Forest will face No. 5 Clemson March 11 in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The game is scheduled to tip at 9:30 p.m., the fourth game of the day. In the one regular-season matchup between the two, Wake beat Clemson 85-77 on Feb. 18.
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Myles Colvin led Wake with 18 points and Sebastian Akins added 14 for the Demon Decons. The two had seven points each in overtime.
In regulation, Virginia Tech's Ben Hammond missed a short jumper in the final seconds, the ball glancing off the rim into the hands of Jailen Bedford who missed an easy layup that would have won it for the Hokies, sending the game to overtime.
Virginia Tech didn't get its first lead of the game until a Bedford driving layup with 16:17 remaining in the second half. That put the Hokies up 41-40, a lead Tech would stretch to as many as five before Wake rallied.
Wake Forest (17-15) was up seven with 4:38 left in the second half, but Virginia Tech (19-13) used a 9-0 run to take the lead on two Bedford free throws. Colvin then put his team back in front with a bucket and two free throws before two Hammond free throws tied the game at 75-75. Neither team scored in the final 47 seconds of the second half to send the game to overtime.
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Virginia Tech never led in the first half, although the Hokies managed to pull into a tie with Wake Forest twice. Tech had a couple of dry spells in the first that hurt them.
One was right out of the gate, going 3:09 before putting a point on the scoreboard when Hammond hit a free throw. Tech got its first field goal on a Tobi Lawal dunk 32 seconds later. That was Lawal's only points of the first half.
The second scoring drought came after Antonio Dorn hit a free throw at the 11:32 mark. Tech didn't score again for 3:55. In that span Wake Forest went on a 7-0 run while Tech was 0-for-6 with four turnovers.
But Tech fought back, cutting its deficit to two with 1:10 left in the half and going into the break down four, 38-34.
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Hammond had 23 points and Bedford 17 to lead Virginia Tech. The Hokies played without injured All-ACC honorable mention player Amani Hansberry, a junior averaging 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds a game.
Another ACC Tournament tournament loss for Tech
With the loss to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech still hasn't won an ACC Tournament game since 2023. That year the Hokies beat Notre Dame in the opening round. A year later, Tech lost to Florida State in the second round and in 2025, Tech fell to California in the opening round.
Did the Hokies' bubble burst
Virginia Tech came into the game on the bubble and needing two, maybe three wins to have a realistic chance to make the NCAA Tournament. The loss to Wake Forest, coming on the heels of a heartbreaking four-point loss to Virginia to end the regular season, is probably too much for the Hokies to overcome in its hopes to make the March Madness field.
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Wake sophomore breaks school record
Wake Forest's Juke Harris has now reached double-digits in 32-consecutive games, breaking a school record. Coming into the game, Harris was tied for the longest stretch of double digit points in a season with Jeff Teague (2008-09) and Tim Duncan (1996-97).
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Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips are always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and on Instagram @hitepatrick . Subscribe to us at newsleader.com .
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Virginia Tech falls to Wake Forest in overtime in ACC Tournament
