COLLEGIATETIMES
wednesday february 27, 2008 blacksburg, va.
www.collegiatetimes.com
sports ROYAL MAKES IMPACT AT COMBINE One of the biggest winners of this year’s NFL combine at the RCA Dome in Royal Indianapolis seems to be Virginia Tech’s Eddie Royal. The senior wide receiver stunned scouts Flowers with impressive results, despite his small size. The Herndon native was a top-ten performer in four of the seven tests. He ran a 4.39 second 40yard dash, an 11.66 second 60yard shuttle, leapt a 36” vertical jump. His best achievement over the six-day event was the bench press, where he pumped out 24 reps at 225 pounds which landed him at the top of the charts for his position. Hokie senior defensive end Chris Ellis and senior linebacker Xavier Adibi both recorded top-10 40 times at their position as well. Cornerback Brandon Flowers, who declared for the draft after his junior year, did not finish in the top-10 in any of the combine’s seven drills, but did record a solid 40 time, clocking in at 4.42 seconds.
BALLIN’ ON THE HARDWOOD
67
48
Hokies ruffle Eagles’ feathers CHARLES R. BARRINEAU
ct associate sports editor The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team completed its third three-game win streak of 2008 Tuesday evening with a 67-48 victory over the Boston College Eagles. “We probably got them at the right time,” said Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg. “They had to go to Tallahassee to go back to Boston and then come back here. That’s hard to do back-toback.” The Hokies (17-11, 8-6) also completed their third series sweep in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Eagles join the Virginia Cavaliers and Maryland Terrapins in the bird feed category. “You’re not going to win any basketball games scoring 48 points,” said Boston College head coach Al Skinner. “It’s just that simple. You have to be able to score — period. That’s what the game’s all about.” Once again the Hokies started out at a snail’s pace offensively. Deron Washington scored the first Hokie point at the 16:27 mark, but Tech would not register its first field goal until a Malcolm Delaney fast-break lay-up at the 15:52 mark gave the Hokies a 3 point lead. “(Coach) wants us to start off quicker,” said Jeff Allen who scored 13 points and snagged 10 rebounds. “We’re working on it.” Fortunately for the Hokies, the Eagles got off to an even slower start. Boston College didn’t register its first point until a Tyrese Rice lay-up fell at the 14:47 mark.
MEN’S BASKETBALL VIRGINIA TECH: 67 BOSTON COLLEGE: 48 UP NEXT: vs. Wake Forest, Tuesday, March 4, 7 p.m., Cassell Coliseum “I thought we were active and alert (defensively),” Greenberg said. “We helped each other great. We contested shots. That’s a hard offense to defend and I thought we did a very good job of pressuring the basketball and pushing them out on their catches.” Tech’s buckets were few and far between in the early going. The home-standing Hokies did not break double-figures until an Allen turn-around one-hander gave Tech an 11-10 lead at the 8:36 mark. Whatever offensive plague the Hokies had, the Eagles caught. Boston College went through a period of nearly four-and-one-half minutes in which it couldn’t buy a bucket. The Hokies were able to get their offensive game somewhat on track and finished the first half shooting 40.7 percent, which was good enough for a 25-20 lead at the break.
JIM DICKHANS/SPPS
Senior Deron Washington (13) dribbles past Tyrese Rice (4) in the second half. Rice was relatively quiet in the game, finishing with 15 points and shooting only 6 of 16 from the floor and 1 of 5 from beyond the arc . Both the Hokies and Eagles handled the ball at a su-par level in the first half. The Eagles committed nine turnovers and the Hokies 10 with Tech committing the majority of its early, while Boston College gave the rock away late. “(On) a lot of them we were just trying to make a hard play out of an easy play,” Greenberg said. “We
weren’t strong with the basketball. Instead of making the easiest pass in transition we made the hardest pass and we had a lot of empty possessions.” The Hokies caught fire offensively early in the second half. A 14-0 Virginia Tech run gave it a 44-25 lead with under 15 minutes to play. At that time Boston College was not even on pace to score
40 points on the evening. “We (had) to hit them before they hit us,” said Hank Thorns who finished with a career high seven assists. “We can’t give them momentum.” The Hokies went on cruise control from then
see HOKIES, page six
Biking becoming big in Blacksburg Several football players are playing intramural basketball — check out our story, and the video on our Web site. page eight
KERRY O’CONNOR
ct news reporter
weather CHANCE OF SNOW high 33, low 17
corrections “’Be Kind and Rewind’ offers little more than pure entertainment,” (CT, Feb. 26) should have had the movie title as “Be Kind Rewind.” The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
coming up TOMORROW’S CT Another Town Council meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss the First and Main development — read what happens tomorrow. Log onto our Web site to see a new video featuring a Tech swimmer.
index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Sports....................6 Classifieds..............7 Sudoku..................7
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year • issue 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC CHRABOT
Eric Chrabot, a senior economics major, goes around a corner at a bike race at N.C. State. Chrabot is the president of the Tech Cycling Team.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED? BLACKSBURG BIKE CLUBS: Blacksburg Bicycle Collective New River Valley Bicycle Association Virginia Tech Cyclic Team BLACKSBURG BIKE SHOPS: Hokie Spokes 424 North Main St. — 540.552.7765 East Coasters Cycling and Fitness 1301 North Main St. — 540.951.2369 Bicycle Underground South Main Street — opening March 9 UPCOMING EVENTS: Bike Challege — entire month of April Registering bikes on Drillfield — March 14 Smith Mountain Lake race — April 5 and 6
It doesn’t need to be said, but Blacksburg is cold in February. It’s OK to use this as an excuse to snuggle up to strangers on the Blacksburg Transit and blast the car heat on the commute to campus and around town. However, with spring in the near future, some are embracing the thriving biking scene in Blacksburg. “People don’t realize how easy it is to get on a bike,” said Yusef Messallam, senior electrical engineering major and founder of the Blacksburg Bicycle Cooperative. “You can do your grocery shopping, commute to work or to school, anything really.” A recent push for Americans to reduce their ecological footprint has led many to pull out their bikes and commute. According to the Energy Information Administration, about 28 percent of energy Americans use goes into transportation, and biking instead of commuting is a step toward going green. “Cycling is good for the environment, good in a financial sense, and good for the campus,” said Debby Freed, alternative transportation manager for Virginia Tech. “The fewer cars on campus, the more pedestrian and bike friendly the campus becomes.” Biking to work or to class also comes with many advantages to personal health. “Biking is easier than running, it’s more joint-friendly, and it’s easier on your knees,” said Mike Blount, manager of Hokie Spokes, a local bike shop. “Even if you’re not eating right, you’re smoking, you’re drinking, you’re still riding your bike and I would encourage everyone to do it for health reasons.” On campus, biking provides an opportunity to reduce the stress of finding oncampus parking. While it has become increasingly apparent that Tech has developed a parking problem, bike racks have sprung up all over campus. “We’ve been working with residential and dining to put out the new style of bike racks,” Freed said. “We are trying to make sure every building has a convenient bike rack located near the entrance.”
Classes were canceled and a campus lockdown was issued at Ferrum College yesterday after campus police were notified of a man carrying a concealed weapon in a residence hall shortly after 7:30 a.m. Nearby Ferrum Elementary School was locked down, as well. In an 11 a.m. press conference held at Ferrum College, Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt and Ferrum College President Jennifer Braaten discussed the morning’s events. “A young white male had been seen by housekeeping in this (Basset) residence hall armed with a handgun,” Hunt said. Hunt went on to say that the man noticed that the housekeeper saw his firearm and proceeded to assure her that “everything was alright” and “not to tell anyone.” The housekeeper followed campus protocol and notified university officials, who immediately notified local law enforcement officials. Law enforcers promptly responded to the scene, and in a later press conference, Sheriff Hunt said about 300 official personnel from over 20 different agencies were present on campus. As of yesterday evening, a composite sketch of the suspect was released on the Ferrum College Web site and the site’s emergency information was updated to say that classes for the rest of the week were canceled and spring break would begin early because of the “unprecedented events.”
see CYCLING, page two
see FERRUM, page two
PHOTO COURTESY OF FERRUM COLLEGE
A man with a gun was spotted by a housekeeper in Bassett Hall at Ferrum College.
Ferrum College put on lockdown Tuesday morning ASHLEY OLIVER
ct associate news editor
have a news tip? want to see something in the CT? e-mail tips@collegiatetimes.com