BLACKSBURG, Va. - With 35 seconds remaining, No. 7 Duke held onto a slim 66-63 lead in a game that it once led by as much as 16 points and Kyle Singler had to find a way to inbound the ball against a swarming Virginia Tech press.
He channeled his high school football days and threw a deep route to fellow quarterback Greg Paulus, who had slipped behind the defense, received the ball past halfcourt and strolled in for a layup that made the game a two-possession contest.
The Blue Devils held on from there, edging the Hokies 72-65 Saturday in Cassell Coliseum for their 10th conference victory.
"That's a great play by Kyle," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That's not something we drew up. He threw to another quarterback. That was a big play. You get a layup at that point, God bless America."
But Duke (24-5, 10-4 in the ACC) wouldn't have needed last-minute heroics if it hadn't been for Virginia Tech sharpshooter A.D. Vassallo. The Blue Devils led Virginia Tech (17-11, 7-7) by 11 with 11:30 left and had good reason to think the game was well in hand. Vassallo gave them reason to think again.
The senior forward scored Virginia Tech's next 15 points and tied the game at 58 with six minutes to go.
Vassallo started Virginia Tech's comeback and gave his team and the crowd a spark when he took a defensive rebound the length of the floor and slammed it through the hoop emphatically to cut Duke's lead to eight. He began his 15-point tear three minutes later with back-to-back threes, only the second and third the Hokies had hit in the contest.
"I was feeling it, to be honest with you," Vassallo said. "I was a little tired, but my shot was feeling good. Malcolm [Delaney] and the guys just started to find me, and I really just kind of took shots. Some of those shots, I have to be honest with you, I had the guy up on me and maybe should have looked for a better shot. I was just feeling like I had the shot-the hot hand."
Vassallo scored six points on his next three consecutive attempts and then capped his run with another three to force the first and only tie in the game. That would be the last shot Vassallo would make from the field because Dave McClure clamped down on him defensively. Virginia Tech would not score on its next six possessions.
"A team like that that's hungry for a win, fighting, those are the games that you're going to play toward the end of the season in March," Singler said. "Game pressure like that is definitely big, and it shows that this team has a lot of confidence and character."
Despite Vassallo's heroics, the Blue Devils never trailed in the game. Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer paced Duke in the first half by scoring 28 of the team's 36 points. Hokies head coach Seth Greenberg had anticipated this and drawn up a scouting report designed to shut the dynamic duo down by putting hands in Scheyer's face and forcing Henderson to go to his left with the ball. The only problem was that Virginia Tech couldn't follow the strategy.
"Let's put it this way: There was a lot of film watched in preparation for this game," Greenberg said. "The scouting report is only as good at what is digested.... I was just really disappointed in our attention to detail early on to what we wanted to do defensively."
After the first 10 minutes of the game, Virginia Tech began to settle in and played better defense. This trend continue into the second half, and Henderson and Scheyer only had four and five points, respectively, after the break.
It was up to Singler to come alive just as the Hokies contained the two juniors. Singler scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, including 11 of the Blue Devils' last 18 points.
Still, Virginia Tech never stopped fighting and challenged Duke down to the last buzzer.
"I don't think they did anything wrong," Krzyzewski said. "They missed a shot, and maybe we got the rebound. Both teams were going after it, but we were just able to just win a couple possessions. And in these games, it just gets down to that a lot of times."
NOTES: Krzyzewski said after the game that there was no timetable for sophomore Nolan Smith's return, and he doubted Smith would play Tuesday against Florida State. Smith is out indefinitely after suffering a mild concussion last Wednesday. Smith's health is progressing, but Krzyzewski said the team might hold him out of competition until the ACC Tournament.
Henderson was charged with a technical foul after slamming a dunk at the 8:48 mark of the first half. Virginia Tech fans erupted in jubilation, but many Duke fans were left puzzled. "He called it," Henderson said of the ref. "I could see why he called it, but I wasn't trying to show up anybody. I felt I got fouled, so I went up real aggressive. Vassallo was my guy. He said I was in his face, but I told him that was my man, and I had to pick up full-court."
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