Virginia Tech’s Grant Basile Scores Career High in Loss to Boston College
Grant Basile dunks in Cassell Coliseum (Hokies Sports)
It was sunny and 60 degrees in Blacksburg on Wednesday, but the cold spell returned for Virginia Tech basketball as Boston College came into Cassell Coliseum and shocked the Hokies, completing the season sweep.
The bright spot for Virginia Tech was graduate transfer Grant Basile, who dropped a career-high 33 points for the Hokies. Basile also tallied four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the loss.
Basile came up especially big down the stretch of the final minute as the Hokies attempted to make a historic comeback.
Trailing by 10 points with a minute and 10 seconds remaining, the Hokies were desperate and looked to their big man in crunch time.
Battling an apparent sore elbow, Basile showed persistence, scoring five unanswered points to help the Hokies cut the Boston College lead down to four with 18 seconds remaining.
He finished the night shooting the ball at 40% from beyond the arc and nearly 60% from the floor.
In his postgame press conference, Virginia Tech head coach, Mike Young, exclaimed, "He gave us everything he could. Everything he had in his tank. I’m very proud of him and I hate that we negated such a good effort with us not playing our best basketball.”
When asked about Basile's discomfort, Young assured, “Yeah, he hurt that last year at Wright State. ... It’s nothing structural.”
After his eye-popping performance, Basile said, “I think we did a pretty good job sharing the ball. I think we played out of the post a lot and we got some good looks offensively, but obviously defensively we're at the level we need to be."
Basile has scored over 20 points in three of the Hokies’ last five games.
Virginia Tech is back in action Saturday against Notre Dame in Purcell Pavilion.
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