Virginia Tech didn’t play particularly well, but they knocked off a bad Wake Forest team 76-62 on the road on Tuesday night. The Hokies improved to 18-8 overall and 8-5 in the ACC with the victory. Wake Forest dropped to 8-20 overall, and 1-12 in league play.
Three players paced the Hokies with 17 points each. Malcolm Delaney was 6-of-11 from the field, and 3-of-4 from three-point range, while Jeff Allen also pulled down eight rebounds. Allen played only 29 minutes because of early foul trouble.
Jarell Eddie, who didn’t play in Saturday’s game against UVA because of a “coach’s decision”, pitched in with a career-high 17 points and nine rebounds. Eddie was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, and 3-of-3 from three-point range in 24 minutes of action.
Erick Green also had 12 points and three assists in 33 minutes of playing time for the Hokies, who shot 27-of-45 (60%) from the field. Tech was also 8-of-12 (66.7%) from three-point range, and outrebounded Wake Forest 35-23.
Despite the good shooting and easy victory, the Hokies were sloppy with the basketball, turning it over 18 times. Wake Forest turned the ball over just 10 times, and that was why the game was much closer than Tech’s 94-65 victory over the Demon Deacons back in January.
Freshman combo forward Travis McKie, a former Virginia Tech recruiting target, led Wake Forest with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Wake Forest held an early 2-1 lead following a layup by McKie, but that was their only lead of the night. The Hokies controlled the game for most of the first half, though the Demon Deacons kept it close until the final minutes. J.T. Terrell nailed a jumper with 5:08 left in the half to cut Tech’s lead to 23-20, but Erick Green answered with a transition three-pointer to push the lead to 26-20.
Green’s three-pointer was the start of a 15-5 Virginia Tech run, and he also ended the run with two free throws to put the Hokies up 38-25 heading into halftime.
The Hokies controlled the second half as well, leading by as many as 21 points before Wake Forest put up a small run late, cutting the lead to as few as 13 points. However, Tech was never seriously threatened after Terrell’s shot with 5:08 left in the first half.
Virginia Tech will be off until Saturday, when they host the #1 Duke Blue Devils in Cassell Coliseum on Saturday night at 9pm. The game will be televised by ESPN.
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