Reeling Hokies hunt for consistency

By Mark Berman

COLLEGE PARK, Md.

On Thursday, Seth Greenberg said because he had a young team, there would eventually be "a brightness at the end of this storm right now."

The sky might brighten next season, or perhaps next month. But it didn't Saturday.

Maryland led from the opening basket and fended off Virginia Tech 73-69 at Comcast Center.

The Hokies fell back into the ACC cellar at 1-5 - and the conference isn't exactly a gauntlet of hard-to-beat teams this season. They're tied for last place with Georgia Tech, which visits North Carolina tonight.

"It's rough," said Dorenzo Hudson, who had 14 points. "It's rough."

Virginia Tech (12-9 overall) finished with a 1-6 record this month, including a nonconference loss to Brigham Young.

Greenberg said this year reminds him of the 2003-04 season, when Zabian Dowdell, Jamon Gordon and Coleman Collins were freshmen.

The Hokies got off to a 1-6 start in Big East play that year but finished with a 7-9 league mark and advanced to the conference tournament for the first time.

"That's why we're not going to be doom and gloom," said Greenberg. "We're going to keep on getting better.... We're not going to throw a pity party."

This was the fourth loss of the month in which the Hokies fizzled offensively in the first half.

"That's our biggest problem right now, man. We don't play 40 minutes," said Erick Green, who had 18 points.

In Wednesday's loss to BYU, Tech shot 25.8 percent from the field in the first half and 64 percent in the second. On Saturday, the Hokies shot 24 percent from the field in the first half (6 of 25) and 50 percent in the second.

"We just need to try to figure out a way to play for 40 minutes," Hudson said.

Tech fell behind 24-11 with 8:33 left in the first half and trailed 32-19 at halftime.

"We kind of took some bad shots at times, kind of did some one-on-one play," Green said of the first half. "And... we missed some layups."

Why did Tech shoot better in the second half?

"We came out second half more fired up than we did the first half, and that's the biggest problem," Green said. "It starts with leadership. The main thing is getting these guys amped up. But... when you step on the court, you should be already fired up"

The Hokies trailed 60-48 with five minutes to play, but finished strong.

Tech made five baskets in the final 35 seconds, but the Terrapins (13-7, 3-3) sank enough free throws down the stretch to keep the lead.

Green made a layup to cut the lead to 69-66 with 11.2 seconds left, but Pe'Shon Howard answered with two free throws. Robert Brown sank a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 71-69 with 4.3 seconds left, but ACC scoring leader Terrell Stoglin made two free throws to seal the win.

Greeenberg gave Cadarian Raines his first start, with slumping freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith coming off the bench.

"I'm just trying to get him going," Greenberg said of the former Norcom High School star.

Finney-Smith was 0 for 3 from the field and is now 0 for 21 from the field in the past five games.