Virginia Tech Va. Tech/Syracuse Syracuse Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Virginia Tech found that out Saturday night. DeShaun Williams and Damone Brown each scored 26 points, both career highs, as the Orangemen beat the Hokies 88-68 to win the Carrier Classic for the 22nd time in 26 tries.

Brown and Williams took up the slack when Preston Shumpert went cold. Shumpert, who entered the game shooting a remarkable 57.7 percent from 3-point range, missed eight 3s in a row after opening the game with one in the first minute.

"This is a great team knowing that when Preston's off or Damone's off other people just step up," said Williams, who in the second half hit five of his seven 3s in the game. "That makes it hard to guard us."

After Shumpert gave Syracuse (7-0) the early lead, Brown scored 10 points, his hook in the lane giving Syracuse a 17-6 edge with 11:46 to go in the first half.

It was almost too easy. The Hokies (2-4) were missing two big men -- starting power forward Dennis Mims and center Mibindo Dongo, both of them 6-foot-9 -- because of injuries and started three freshmen and two sophomores.

But then Syracuse gave the Tech a chance to stay in the game by missing 11 straight 3s against the Hokies' zone. When Brian Chase's second 3-pointer of the game pulled the Hokies within 22-18 at 7:15, there was hope.

"I always think we've got a chance to win, not just keep it close, regardless of who we're playing," said Chase, who led Tech with 15 points. "If you're not coming into the game with no intentions of winning, then something's wrong."

Whatever was wrong with the Orangemen they quickly fixed.

Center Billy Celuck hit a jumper in the lane and converted a feed from Brown for an easy layup and the Orangemen led 26-18 with 6:20 left.

Williams then hit a 3 and fed Brown for an easy layup and Syracuse had a double-digit lead at 33-21 with 3:55 left.

A fast-break dunk by Williams after a Carlos Dixon miss from long range helped stake Syracuse to a 40-23 halftime lead. "This team has more than one scorer," said Brown, who had 11 rebounds and was named tournament MVP. "It can be any four players at any given time. We can fill it up. It doesn't matter if one person's not hitting because on any given night anybody can make points."

Williams equaled the Syracuse record for 3-pointers in a game. Dave Johnson set it against Florida State in 1990 and Shumpert matched it last season against Notre Dame.

Alex Martin had 13 points, and Dixon, Chris Exilus and Jon Smith each had 12 for the Hokies.

Shumpert, who was 4-or-13 from the floor and 1-for-9 from 3-point range, had 16 points and Allen Griffin had 11 assists.

The Hokies were repeatedly victimized by turnovers -- 15 of their 23 in the first half -- and suffered 15 steals.

"We were aggressive in our defense," Brown said. "I think we set the tone early with our defense, got some easy looks and some steals and got some easy layups.

"We worked the boards, got some second shots, some second-chance points, and then DeShaun started hitting some shots," Brown said. "We really weren't worried."

If there was any doubt about the outcome at the half, it quickly vanished when Syracuse began the second period with a 15-5 run.

Fortunately for the Hokies, the loss doesn't count in the conference standings.

"The limited number of bodies we have, naturally we have a number of guys playing out of position," Tech coach Ricky Stokes said. "It's kind of hard."

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Mens College Basketball Scoreboard

Virginia Tech Clubhouse

Syracuse Clubhouse