JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo towered over the Morgan State defense during the NIT Tournament at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. Tech won 94-62.

JUSTIN COOK | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's J.T. Thompson (33) is sandwiched between Morgan State's defense Reggie Holmes (11, left) and Rodney Stokes (42, right) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. Wednesday March 19, 2008.

Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo (40) shoots over Morgan State's defense at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. Wednesday March 19, 2008.

Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo towered over the Morgan State defense during the NIT Tournament at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg

Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG -- OK, so it wasn't the most eagerly anticipated event on the Virginia Tech campus this week.

But the Hokies' men's basketball team put on a pretty good exhibition of its own Wednesday.

One day after the New York Yankees entertained fans with an 11-0 exhibition win over the Tech baseball team at English Field, the Hokies cruised past Morgan State 94-62 in the first round of the NIT at Cassell Coliseum.

It was Tech's largest margin of victory in an NCAA tournament or NIT game.

"We tried to give them as good a game as [the Yankees]," said forward Deron Washington, who had 11 points and nine rebounds. "I knew it was going to be tough, competing with a major-league baseball team coming into town, but we had a nice crowd and ... played a pretty good game."

The top-seeded Hokies (20-13) will host fifth-seeded Alabama-Birmingham (23-10) in the second round Monday at a time to be announced. They are two wins away from reaching the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

The game drew a near-capacity crowd of 9,628 fans, many of them students. Coach Seth Greenberg and about 12 boosters paid for 3,000 student tickets, but the rest of the crowd had to open their wallets. Tickets were $15 for adults and $5 for Tech students and children under 18.

"What an unbelievable crowd," Greenberg said. "Our student body and community just rallied around and got behind these kids."

Greenberg said boosters would donate another 3,000 student tickets Monday.

Tech shot a season-high 65.4 percent from the field, including a blistering 82.6 percent (19-of-23) in the second half -- a new Tech record for the best percentage in a half.

"Wow! Eighty-two percent," Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman said as he looked at the stat sheet. "I knew they shot the cover off the ball, but good gracious. ... It was an exhibition there, the way they shot the ball."

"We just kept on looking for the open guy," said A.D. Vassallo, who had 27 points and three 3-pointers.

The Hokies were disappointed Sunday after being one of the bubble teams left out of the NCAA tournament, but being relegated to the NIT didn't diminish their effort.

"We're just happy to be playing," said Malcolm Delaney, who had 13 points and three 3-pointers. "We probably weren't predicted to be in the NCAA tournament, so I think when we didn't get picked, our team didn't get our heads down.

"With the NCAA stuff out of our heads, ... it's a new start. We have another goal now."

Greenberg earned his 300th career victory. In the final minute, Greenberg's daughters Ella and Jackie held up a sign that read, "Congrats on your 300th win." His eldest daughter, Paige, then took a turn holding up the sign.

"Fooled 'em for a long time, haven't I?" said Greenberg, who is 300-239 in 18 seasons at three schools.

Greenberg, a Yankees fan from Long Island, N.Y., attended the Yankees' pregame news conferences Tuesday but didn't attend batting practice or the ballgame to focus on Morgan State (22-11) and run practice.

"It killed me to miss that," Greenberg said of the ballgame.

The sacrifice paid off with a season-high number of points. Tech was 18-of-22 from the free-throw line and shot a season-high 57.1 percent from 3-point range (8-of-14).

Vassallo finished two points shy of tying his career high. With Tech up 59-41, Greenberg pulled him with 11:13 to go.

"As long as we were winning, I really didn't care that much," Vassallo said. "I thought about it for a second.

"As long as we win and we keep on moving on and we can go to New York and keep on playing and miss a couple days of class, we're good."

Vassallo, who bruised his left hand in the ACC Tournament, was 11-of-14 from the field.

"At one point I went to him and I said, 'Man, are you going to miss any shots?'" Bears forward Boubacar Coly said.

Marquise Kately had 21 points for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season champs. MEAC player of the year Jamar Smith, who missed Saturday's MEAC final with a bruised foot, had six points.