#3 UVA toughed out a 64-58 win at #20 Virginia Tech in rowdy Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg Monday night.
The ‘Hoos (23-2, 11-2 ACC) led by three at the break, but had an unsightly eight turnovers in the first half, and allowed the Hokies (20-6, 9-5 ACC) free will in the paint.
Tech had 20 points in the paint in the opening 20 minutes, running an effective series of high-post/backdoor sets that resulted in 10-of-12 shooting for the Hokies in the paint in the first half.
Virginia adjusted to take those bunnies away in the second half, and led by as many as 13, but Tech would not go away quietly, even with injured senior point guard only able to offer words of encouragement from the bench.
An Ahmed Hill and-one cut the Virginia lead to 61-54 with 1:25 to go, but Braxton Key nailed a three at the end of the shot clock on UVA’s next possession to push the lead back to 10, and that was effectively it.
Kyle Guy was next-level good for Virginia in this one, finishing with 23 points, 17 in the first half, shooting 8-of-15 from the floor and 6-of-13 from three.
The big first half was key with De’Andre Hunter going to the bench with his second foul at the 12:22 mark.
Hunter finished with 10 points, all in the second half.
Ty Jerome had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (3-of-6 from three) and six assists for Virginia, which shot 46 percent (23-of-50) from the floor and 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from three-point range.
UVA also had 13 turnovers, continuing an ugly recent trend, and Tech had a 13-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Kerry Blackshear led the Hokies with 23 points (10-of-14 FG) and 13 rebounds for Virginia Tech. Ahmed Hill and Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 16 and 11, respectively, but shot a combined 10-of-31 from the floor, and 1-of-14 from three-point range.
The Hokies were just 3-of-27 from three-point range on the night. Coming in, Tech had been shooting 41.8 percent from three.
Story by Chris Graham
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