Virginia Tech went to Raleigh and came away with a big road win on Wednesday night, knocking off the NC State Wolfpack 77-69. The Hokies are now 15-6 overall, and 5-3 in the ACC. It was their second road ACC win of the season. NC State fell to 12-10 overall, and 2-6 in conference play.
Malcolm Delaney led the Hokies with 22 points in 38 minutes, and scored his 2,000th career point during the game. He is just the fourth player in school history to reach that mark. He also had four assists, two steals and just one turnover.
Jeff Allen reached the 1,500 point mark during the game, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Tech owned the boards in this game, out-rebounding the Pack 46-35. The Hokies pulled down 14 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. Victor Davila was a big factor, with a career-high 13 rebounds.
Erick Green and Terrell Bell chipped in with 13 points each, which was the most for Bell since he scored 13 against Penn State back on December 12th. The Hokies committed just six turnovers, which was a big reason for their win. They shot just 40.9% from the field, but they had 19 offensive rebounds for the game and had 23 second chance points. They also made 19-of-25 (76%) shots from the free throw line.
NC State was led by freshman forward C.J. Leslie, who scored 18 points. However, Leslie and his frontcourt teammates failed to box out the Hokies, as Virginia Tech took the lead at the 15:14 mark of the first half, and never relinquished it.
Jeff Allen was huge for the Hokies early in the game, scoring eight of their first 12 points as they steadily built their lead. Malcolm Delaney didn’t make his first shot until the 9:07 mark of the first half, and that shot put the Hokies up 20-12. Less than two minutes later, a big dunk by Terrell Bell gave the Hokies their first double-digit lead, 25-14.
Virginia Tech went on to lead by as many as 16 points in the first half, and went into halftime in very good shape. They led 39-26, and they were completely outplaying the Wolfpack on their own home court.
The Hokies held their double-digit lead for most of the second half, but NC State made a run in the final five minutes. The Pack cut the lead to nine points with 4:40 left, and they got it as close as six points following four consecutive points from Lorenzo Brown. However, that was as close as they came. Virginia Tech made enough free throws down the stretch to walk out with an eight-point win.
Tech will return to action on Saturday when they play on the road at Boston College. Tip-off is scheduled for 1pm, and the game will not be televised.
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