Gregg Marshall's return to the area where he spent his youth couldn't have gone much better.
His team made sure of it.
Joe Ragland's layup with 2.6 seconds left in overtime lifted Wichita State to a 79-76 victory over Virginia Tech in the second round of the NIT on Sunday.
The Shockers (26-8) advanced to play the College of Charleston on Tuesday night.
It made for a sweet return for Marshall, who graduated from Cave Spring High school in Roanoke, Va., just a 45-minute drive from the Virginia Tech campus, and attended college at Randolph-Macon College near Richmond.
''I grew up coming to basketball games here and football games at Lane Stadium,'' he said. ''I've got some very good friends waiting on me as soon as I'm done here. I can't wait to visit with them. ... I've got a lot of people I want to touch and thank for sharing this experience.''
Ragland made it possible.
His shot came after the Hokies' Terrell Bell had made a layup to tie the game at 76 with nine seconds remaining. Ragland raced up the court, and Marshall decided against calling a timeout to set up a play. It worked as Ragland got into the lane to hit the go-ahead shot.
''(Garrett) Stutz was kind of wide open, and he was calling for the ball, so I was trying to get it to him,'' Ragland said. ''(Erick) Green cut me off pretty well, so I just avoided him, and I thought there wasn't much time left. So I shot a floater toward the basket and it went in.''
Virginia Tech (22-12) called a timeout following Ragland's shot, but Malcolm Delaney stepped out of bounds with a second left and never had a chance to tie the game.
The Hokies then fouled Toure Murry with 0.9 seconds remaining, and Murry made one of two free-throw attempts before rebounding his own miss as time ran out.
''Normally, I don't call many timeouts at all,'' Marshall said of the eventual winner. ''I felt comfortable with Joe. He's grown and matured. He's making good decisions with the basketball. I like to let my players play, and these guys made some big-time plays.''
The Shockers had a chance to win in regulation.
Wichita State's J.T. Durley hit a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in regulation that tied the game at 69. Bell then missed a 3 with 22 seconds left, giving the Shockers one last opportunity to win the game. Ragland's off-balance shot at the buzzer was a little too strong.
Murry led a balanced Wichita State attack with 15 points, and Graham Hatch added 14 as five Shockers finished in double figures.
Delaney paced the Hokies with a game-high 30 points.
''We had our chances,'' Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. ''We wish we had two defensive plays back - the 3 by Durley and then not stopping the ball at the end. We needed to get two stops, and we didn't get two stops. You've got to give them credit.''
