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Hot shooting late pushes Virginia Tech to upset at Florida State

Roger Gonzalez
virginia tech mike young
Virginia Tech coach Mike Young. Photo by Dan Grogan.

The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team has had trouble putting away games, but on Saturday at Florida State, they slammed the door shut with an historic performance.

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The Hokies blew a double-digit lead but fought back valiantly to handle the Seminoles, 75-72, with Tech going a staggering 18-for-25 from deep. Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla combined to go 15-for-18 from deep while scoring 47 points. Cattoor had nine treys of his own, tying Justin Robinson’s all-time, single-game record at Tech. The 18 threes is also the most Tech have ever scored in an ACC game.

The win moves Tech to 11-10 overall and 3-6 in the ACC.

The Hokies led by eight at the break but saw that lead evaporate just two and a half minutes into the second half. FSU, with their size, dominated down low to take command of the game.. But with 7:25 to go and Tech holding on to just a two-point lead, they found that late-game focus and execution that had been absent. A three by Cattoor with 7:03 to go was the start of a 14-0 run that gave Tech a 76-60 lead with four minutes to go. FSU had just 12 points in the last seven minutes.

Tech finished the day shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 72 percent from deep. The Hokies went to the line only five times. Leading scorer Keve Aluma had just four points but didn’t have to do much. Pedulla, off the bench and now expected to earn even more minutes, had 20 points. Cattoor finished 9-for-11 from deep.

Next, Tech will host Georgia Tech on Feb. 2.

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez is freelancer for Augusta Free Press. A native of Connecticut that grew up in Charlottesville, he is a graduate of Virginia Tech. He currently is a sportswriter with CBS Sports and has written for The Daily Progress, The Roanoke Times and other newspapers before getting into the digital sports journalism world.