For an out-of-conference coach, Oklahoma State's Travis Ford has probably seen more of Virginia Tech and Erick Green in the last three years than anyone in the country. After Saturday afternoon, Ford will be pleased never to see them again. Green scored 28 points and hit eight critical free throws in the final 76 seconds as Virginia Tech continued its surprising start under new coach James Johnson, beating the No. 15 Cowboys (5-1) for the fourth time in the past three seasons. "He's one of the best guards in the country, one of the best point guards in the county, bar none," Ford said of Green, who did all his scoring and grabbed seven rebounds in just 26 minutes after drawing two fouls in the first three minutes. The Hokies, picked to finish 10th in the ACC, are off to their first 7-0 start since the 1982-83 season, and their victory was their first nonconference triumph against a ranked team since they beat Virginia in December 1995 at Roanoke Coliseum. "I think people were sleeping on us because of the coaching change and because of the players that left," Green, the Hokies' lone senior, said. "But I hope that we've shown people we can play with anybody and that we're a great team." "We've got to keep it going. Consistency is the key," Green said. Robert Brown added 18 points and Jarell Eddie had 15 with 12 rebounds for the Hokies, who outrebounded the taller, more athletic Cowboys 41-31 and scored 22 points off their 13 offensive rebounds. The victory finished a week that started with a 95-79 blowout of Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, a game that many viewed as their first real test of the year.' Read more http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=323360259
