ORLANDO, Fla. -- The motto of the Walt Disney World parks is "Where Dreams Come True."

But the Virginia Tech men's basketball team's dream of winning a holiday tournament here on national television came to a quick end.

The Hokies did not have a happy Thanksgiving, falling to Western Michigan 71-68 on Thursday in the inaugural Old Spice Classic. The first-round game was played at the Milk House at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

Tech (2-1) led most of the first half and had a 40-32 advantage with 17:40 to go.

"We had the game under control at one point," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "They made that one run and quite honestly, we did not respond the way I would expect us to respond."

"We had them where we wanted them and then we let it slip out of our hands," forward A.D. Vassallo said.

Tech led 68-67 with 1:22 left, but Vassallo missed three 3-pointers and committed a turnover in the final 40 seconds.

"They were wide-open shots, shots that I had rhythm with," Vassallo said.

The Hokies are now relegated to ESPNU for their final two games of the eight-team tournament. Tech will play 2006 NCAA tournament participant Montana at 7:30 p.m. today.

The Broncos (2-2) sank three 3-pointers during a 13-2 run to grab a 45-42 lead with 12:45 to go.

"We were not as focused, we were not as together, we didn't trust each other enough when they made that run," Greenberg said.

Tech went on an 11-3 run to tie the score at 63 with 4:14 to go. Vassallo hit a jumper to give Tech a 68-67 lead with 1:22 to go.

Michael Redell, who had 17 points, hit two foul shots to give the Broncos a 69-68 lead with 52 seconds left. Vassallo missed a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go. Andrew Hershberger of the Broncos missed two free throws with 35.6 seconds left. Vassallo got the rebound, and the Hokies brought the ball upcourt.

But Coleman Collins, who was playing center, soon wound up dribbling the ball in the backcourt. He made a bad pass to Vassallo, and the ball went off Vassallo's hands and out of bounds for a turnover.

"We were in a ... spread offense," Greenberg said. "We wanted to open up the court so guys like Zabian [Dowdell] and Jamon [Gordon] could drive the basketball. We didn't have a timeout left and Coleman made a bad decision."

"It was miscommunication," Vassallo said. "I was trying to get the ball. I could've got it myself. It was a 50-50 ball."

The Broncos' Andrew Ricks hit two foul shots for a 71-68 lead with 15.6 seconds left. Vassallo missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left.

A Broncos turnover enabled Tech to inbound the ball with 3.7 seconds left, but Vassallo missed a 3-pointer with one second to go.

Greenberg said he regretted not getting Dowdell (16 points) more shots down the stretch.

Center Joe Reitz had 17 points for the Broncos. The Mid-American Conference team improved to 5-0 against the Hokies, with four of those wins having come since the start of the 2001-02 season.

It was Tech's sixth loss to a team from a less prestigious conference in Greenberg's four seasons at the school.

Jamon Gordon had 19 points for Tech. Collins had two points and no rebounds in the second half.

W. Michigan MP FG FT R A F PT

Workman 16 1-5 0-0 2 0 0 3

Reitz 30 4-8 9-12 8 1 2 17

Fracalossi 17 0-4 0-0 2 1 4 0

Redell 27 3-8 9-10 2 0 2 17

Gary 24 2-4 0-0 1 0 3 5

Drews 21 3-5 0-0 3 1 3 9

Hershberger 24 3-6 0-2 5 1 2 6

Ricks 14 5-6 2-2 1 1 3 12

McLemore 12 0-5 0-0 3 0 2 0

Kool 5 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Lawson 10 1-1 0-0 3 0 0 2

Totals 200 22-52 20-26 34 5 22 71

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Washington 25 5-9 7-10 0 0 2 17

Collins 31 2-5 1-1 2 1 3 5

Krabbendam 20 1-4 0-0 2 0 3 2

Dowdell 37 6-12 3-4 4 3 2 16

Gordon 32 9-11 0-0 4 1 3 19

Munson 12 0-3 0-0 0 0 3 0

Witcher 6 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0

Sailes 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Diakite 9 1-2 0-0 01 0 2 2

Vassallo 18 2-10 0-1 3 1 4 5

Tucker 7 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2

Totals 200 27-59 11-16 16 6 23 68

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Western Michigan 29 42 -- 71

Virginia Tech 34 34 -- 68

Three point goals: Western Michigan 7-20 (Drews 3-4, Redell 2-4, Shawntes 1-2, Workman 1-5, Hershberger, Ricks, McLemore 0-1, Fracalossi 0-2, ); Virginia Tech 3-14 (Gordon 1-1, Vassallo 1-6, Dowdell 1-4, Washington, Munson, Witcher 0-1).

Turnovers: Western Michigan 18 (Reitz 5); Virginia Tech 16 (Dowdell, Gordon 4).

Blocked shots: Western Michigan 2 (Workman, Lawson); Virginia Tech 6 (Gordon 2).

Steals: Western Michigan 5 (McLemore 2); Virginia Tech 6 (Dowdell 3).

Officials: Mark Whitehead, Kevin Mathis, Terry Moore.

Attendance: 1,024.