NEW YORK -- We're all set for this afternoon's Holiday Festival championship game, and we're hoping it will be a good one with Virginia Tech and St. John's battling back and forth.

After last night's close win over Marist, St. John's coach Norm Roberts is hoping that Eugene Lawrence can step up once again in crunch time and lead the Johnnies past the Hokies today.

It won't be an easy task, however, for the Red Storm, which had three double-digit scorers last night in Anthony Mason, Jr., Tomas Jasiulionis and Justin Burrell. The Hokies, after all, have two go-to players in senior Deron Washington and junior A.D. Vassallo, both of whom tallied 17 points last night in a 30-point win over an Antoine Agudio-less Hofstra team (the one we just saw fall to Marist, 73-69, in the Holiday Festival consolation game earlier this afternoon).

And while neither of the teams are expected to make the NCAA Tournament come March, it still should be interesting to see how much last night's games will affect either team. Logic would give the advantage to the Hokies with their blowout win while St. John's struggled to get past Marist, but if the Johnnies are hungry and motivated, then they'll want to win this game in front of the hometown faithful.