ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Staff report
THE LAST REMAINING seats for next week's game were snatched up Thursday.
For the first time in six seasons, the Virginia-Virginia Tech basketball game will be a sellout.
Early Thursday, a few scattered seats remained for the Dec.28 game, which tips off at 7 p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center. By mid-afternoon, most of those tickets were gone. A box-office worker said only one ticket was left for public purchase.
The last time the Tech-UVa game was a sellout was in 1990.
Chris Powell, assistant manager of the Roanoke Civic Center, said Virginia Tech sold approximately 5,700 tickets and Virginia took about 2,000. The seating capacity for basketball is 9,926 at the civic center, 60 seats fewer than it was the last time the game was played in the building two years ago. The number is lower because Tech elected not to sell tickets for the sections behind both benches.
``The tickets are pretty well gone,'' said Powell. ``This year, both schools called back and took more, although UVa didn't take as many as they usually do.''
With both teams ranked nationally, interest in the game is as high as it has been in several years.
``When you consider the two [football] teams are in bowls, and consider that both schools are out of session, the [basketball] game will have a tremendous crowd,'' said Tech ticket manager Tom McNeer.
The game will not be televised.
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB