BLACKSBURG - Zabian Dowdell lost his shirt, but Duke lost the game.

Dowdell buried a 3-pointer with 14.6 seconds left to give the Virginia Tech men's basketball team a 67-65 win over seventh-ranked Duke on Thursday at Cassell Coliseum. Duke's Daniel Ewing missed a 3-pointer with one second left and Tech's Carlos Dixon got the rebound. Dixon grinned and flung the ball up in the air after the buzzer sounded. Tech students rushed onto the court and surrounded the Hokies.

Dowdell emerged from the throng of students without his jersey.

"I was so happy I just threw the shirt in the air," said Dowdell, who had 11 points. "It'll probably be on eBay."

It was the biggest win for the Hokies (13-10, 6-6 ACC) since a February 1986 home victory over No.2 Memphis State. This was Tech's second win this season over a top-12 team; the Hokies won at then-No. 12 Georgia Tech last month.

Tech snapped a three-game losing streak and tied Maryland and Miami for fourth place in the ACC.

Duke (18-4, 8-4) squashed Tech 100-65 last month, a game in which the Blue Devils led by 25 points at halftime and four Tech starters were in serious foul trouble in the first half. Thirty-four fouls were called against Tech in that game, 22 in the first half.

"They beat us pretty bad down there. I guess they didn't think we had enough gas in our tank to keep playing hard, but we showed them what we're all about," said Dixon, who had 18 points.

Tech also was blown out this season by the ACC's other two national heavyweights, Wake Forest and North Carolina.

Did the upset shock Ewing?

"It does, it really does" shock, said Ewing. "We didn't really come out here and play the way we should've played. ... [The Hokies] played hard, they played physical and they made plays when it counted."

Down 54-49, Tech scored nine straight points to grab a 58-54 lead with 7:07 to go. Dixon had six points in the run.

Duke's Sean Dockery sank two foul shots and teammate J.J. Redick, a Cave Spring graduate who had 19 points, made a layup to tie the score at 60 with 3:05 to go. Reserve walk-on Jeff King, who played 21 minutes because Deron Washington got in foul trouble, scored to give Tech a 62-60 lead with 2:00 left. Shelden Williams answered with a bucket to tie the score with 1:36 left.

After a tip-in by Tech's Jamon Gordon with 32 seconds left, Redick buried a 3-pointer to give Duke a 65-64 lead with 23 seconds left.

Dowdell answered with his winning 3-pointer.

"There was no pressure. I just wanted to make sure I concentrated and got my normal release," Dowdell said. "In the heat of the moment, you don't have time to think, 'Oh, this is the last shot.' ... I'm just out there playing basketball."

It was the kind of big 3-pointer Redick usually makes.

"There's a new guy on the block now," Dowdell said with a smile.

Ewing missed a 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left. Gordon and Duke's Lee Melchionni both grabbed the loose ball, and Duke got it because of the possession arrow with 4.9 seconds left. After a timeout, Duke inbounded the ball and Ewing missed another 3-pointer.

"The last couple games, we've been losing. It didn't look like us at all - we haven't been playing no D," said Gordon, who had 17 points. "But the last two days of practice ... we played defense so hard. It carried over to tonight."

Coleman Collins had 14 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for Tech, which outrebounded Duke 49-32.

Tech was ranked No.135 in the Rating Percentage Index. Since the RPI became public 11 seasons ago, Duke had never lost to a team with such a poor RPI.