Erick Green made an 18-footer with 4.5 seconds left to give Virginia Tech the lead, and an apparent game-winner at the buzzer by Florida State’s Derwin Kitchen was nullified by a lengthy official review, allowing the Hokies to escape with a 52-51 victory in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Friday night.
#6 seed Tech (21-10) advances to play #2 seed Duke in Saturday’s semifinals – and perhaps more importantly appears to have all but sewn up an at-large berth in next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Green had been 1-for-12 from the field before hitting the jumper from the left wing off a pass from Malcolm Delaney, who had missed a chance to tie the game moments earlier with a rare miss at the foul line. Jeff Allen took the ball from FSU’s Michael Snaer with 19 seconds to go to give Virginia Tech its final possession.
After Green’s shot and a Florida State timeout, Kitchen took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court into the right corner before elevating for a jump shot just inside the three-point line. The shot went through the net at the buzzer, and the Seminoles bench mobbed Kitchen on the baseline in celebration of what had appeared at first glance to be the game-winning shot. Television replays revealed that the ball was still on Kitchen’s fingertips as the clock above the backboard hit triple zeroes. After a review of the TV monitors that lasted close to three minutes, the game officials ruled the shot no good, sending the Tech bench and its fans into wild celebration.
Delaney led all scorers with 16 points, but was only 5-for-16 from the field. Tech shot just 17-for-54 from the field for the game (31.5 percent), but made 12-of-21 from the free-throw line while Florida State made just one free throw for the game in five attempts.
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