BLACKSBURG — With a little more than two minutes to play Wednesday, Virginia Tech’s men’s basketball team had put the Cassell Coliseum crowd at ease and was in good position to earn a convincing, quality ACC win over Stanford.
The Cardinal’s Ebuka Okorie had different plans.
Stanford’s star freshman got his team’s first cross-country trip of the season off to a great start, scoring 19 of the Cardinal’s last 25 points — and assisting on the other six — on the way to a stunning 69-68 win over the Hokies.
Virginia Tech (12-4, 1-2) led by as many as 13 points in the second half and still held a 12-point advantage with 2:18 to play before Okorie brought Cassell to a hush by leading a 13-2 run down the stretch, highlighted by knocking down his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 2.8 seconds left that gave the Cardinal (13-3, 2-1) its first lead of the game since the early stages of the first half.
“Talk about kicking one — and that’s my responsibility,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said. “We had a couple of horrendous offensive possessions (in the final minutes) and took shots way too quick.
“We needed time off the clock. We didn’t need more points.”
What might have been the biggest head-scratcher for Young and his staff when it came to Okorie’s late surge was how different the final minutes went after the Hokies’ defensive effort had been so good against the Stanford standout.
Okorie had just five points in the first half and did not score at all in the last five minutes of the first half or the first five minutes after intermission.
But then it all changed, as he had 26 of his 31 points after that.
“I thought we did a real nice job of keeping him in a cocoon with a hedge,” Young said. “But the kid is a really smart player and he’s going to make the right basketball play.
“In the second half, he started beating that hedge a little bit and started getting more downhill.”
The loss spoiled the return of Tech senior forward Tobi Lawal, who was back on the floor for the first time since he suffered a foot injury against Colorado State on Nov. 26. He had been averaging 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game prior to his nine-game absence.
Lawal entered the game for the first time with 16:05 to play in the first half and the Hokies trailing by three points and provided a spark right away.
Shortly after getting on the floor, the British national, who had started all 36 of his games since transferring from VCU after the 2023-24 season, recorded an offensive rebound and basket. He added a defensive rebound before taking a seat a little more than three minutes later.
Those first points were part of a 10-0 run that was capped by a Neo Avdalas 3-pointer that put the Hokies up 12-5 with 11:22 to play in the first half.
Lawal played 18 minutes and scored five points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked two shots during that time. Young said the team will consult with the medical staff to determine how well his foot responded to game action, and that will lead to a decision on the amount of time he will be able to play on Saturday against California.
“It was good to have him back in a Hokies uniform,” Young said. “He was, as expected, sluggish. He was searching a little bit, but he helped our team and he certainly did some really good things. He’s going to get better and better.”
Lawal is returning to a team that managed to develop some depth over the past nine games that may not have been possible if he, as well as starting guard Tyler Johnson (ankle), had not been sidelined.
Freshman center Christian Gurdak had another solid performance, grabbing nine rebounds in 23 minutes. And on the perimeter, Ben Hammond came off the bench to score 14 points — all in the last 12 minutes.
in the first half, but he never wavered. He knew there was going to be another opportunity.”]
Although disappointed and frustrated with the finish, Young remains encouraged with what this Hokies team could be.
“We’ve got a lot of basketball to play,” he said. “We’ve got a good Cal team coming to the house on Saturday, and we’ll play better basketball.”
