Virginia Tech stuns Duke on late tip-in

VIRGINIA TECH 64, NO. 5 DUKE 63

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s emotions changed in a heartbeat — not once, but twice.

The freshman guard at Virginia Tech took what he thought would be the game-winning shot. Then he saw it sail over the rim entirely. Then he saw teammate Chris Clarke collect the rebound and lay it back in, giving the Hokies a 64-63 comeback victory over No. 5 Duke on Monday.

“It was in the air, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’m about to hit it,’ ” Alexander-Walker said. Then?

“Oooooh, and then, yeah,” he said.

Clarke’s mind was working overtime, too, as he grabbed the rebound.

“Definitely you can’t miss that layup or it looks really bad,” he said of the putback with four seconds left, which gave Virginia Tech its first lead since the opening minutes. “I just knew I had to make it.”

Because he did, the Hokies gained another signature victory to enhance their NCAA Tournament credentials. Clarke said they haven’t talked about that as a team, even with pundits seeming very much on the fence as to whether they have done enough or not.

“We know we’re not done yet,” Clarke said. “But we know it’s a booster.”

The Hokies (21-9, 10-7 ACC) also have home wins against No. 9 North Carolina and No. 18 Clemson, and a road victory at top-ranked Virginia.

“I thought we played really tired tonight,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said, noting it was his team’s fourth game in eight days.

The Blue Devils committed 18 turnovers, and the Hokies turned them into 24 points. Duke turned 12 Tech miscues into just six points.

“Part of it for us was to make them a half-court team, and we did unless we turned it over,” Krzyzewski said.

Alexander-Walker led the Hokies with 17 points, Justin Bibbs had 14.

Grayson Allen led Duke (24-6, 12-5) with 22 points, but his three-point try before the buzzer missed. Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed the rebound, but the clock ran out before his layup went through.

When officials signaled that the basket didn’t count, fans streamed out of the stands onto the Cassell Coliseum floor.

TOP 25 WOMEN NO. 1 CONNECTICUT 82, NO. 20 SOUTH FLORIDA 53

STORRS, Conn. — Gabby Williams scored 18 points and dished out nine assists on her senior night and topranked Connecticut completed an undefeated regular season for the 10th time in program history with a victory over No. 20 South Florida.

Azura Stevens led all scorers with 21 points and Katie Lou Samuelson had 14 for the Huskies (29-0, 16-0 American), who are now 98-0 in games against American Athletic Conference opponents. They are 86-0 in the regular season and have won all four conference tournaments.

Kitija Laksa scored all but two of her 14 points in the second half for South Florida (24-6, 13-3).

SWAC WOMEN

UAPB 66, JACKSON STATE 60

After trailing 37-23 at halftime, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff came back to beat Jackson State in Jackson, Miss., on Monday night.

The Lady Lions outscored Jackson State 16-7 in the third quarter, with Faith Ohanta scoring seven points in the quarter.

Jackson State led 54-48 with 3:38 left before UAPB made a late push. Ohanta had a layup to make it 54-50. Shawntayla Harris had a three-point play to close it to 54-53 with 3:23 left. UAPB took a 56-54 lead on a three-pointer by Ohanta with 2:50 left. Harris had a layup with 2:03 left to make it 58-54.

UAPB closed out the game by making 8 of 10 free throws.

Ohanta led UAPB (7-20, 5-12) by scoring 22 points on 7 of 14 field goals and grabbing 13 rebounds. Destiny Brewton added 11 points, with all of them coming at the foul line.

Derica Wiggins and Christina Ellis led Jackson State (13-12, 8-8) with 13 points. Wiggins made 6 of 10 three-pointers.