SOUTH BEND – We’re not going to pretend it’s been a great season for Notre Dame, but you have to credit some players for trying to make it one. [autotag]Nate Laszewski[/autotag] has been that player this year as the Irish’s leading scorer. He displayed that in full force against Virginia Tech with a career-high 33 points. But it couldn’t keep the Irish from losing, 93-87, and giving the Hokies their first ACC road win.
While the Irish (10-15, 2-12) never really allowed the Hokies (150, 5-9) to pull away, they didn’t put themselves in the best position either. They failed to make enough shots, and they weren’t very effective on defense. There were a couple of stretches in which the Hokies couldn’t miss, and that could be attributed to a variety of reasons, particularly the second-half surge of Grant Basile, who scored 28 of his own 33 points in that frame. Whatever the case, the result was the same as it’s been all season: The Irish didn’t get the stops they needed to, and having to play catch-up once again had to be frustrating.
Basile’s big scoring afternoon came on 13-of-19 shooting from the field. Justyn Mutts was the Hokies’ next-best player on the day with 19 points and nine assists. Sean Pedulla and MJ Collins scored 12 apiece. To the Irish’s credit, they did limit Hunter Cattoor, the ACC’s leading 3-point shooter, to two baskets from downtown.
[autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag] scored 17 points in the losing effort, and [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag], making his second straight start, added 11.
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