Virginia Tech got a big double-double from Jeff Allen and defeated Longwood 79-57 in Cassell Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. The win puts the Hokies at 6-4 on the season. They’ll take the remainder of the week off before traveling to New York to defend their Aeropostale Holiday Festival championship.
Longwood is likely the smallest team Virginia Tech will face this season, and Jeff Allen took advantage by putting up dominating numbers. Allen finished with a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 21 rebounds. He actually had a double-double in the first half alone with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
A.D. Vassallo also added 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Vassallo also pulled down nine rebounds and dished out three assists in 36 minutes of action.
Malcolm Delaney scored 12 points for Tech, and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. For the season, Delaney is 71-of-81 from the charity stripe, good for 87.7%. That ranks second in the ACC.
The Hokies got some help from another wing in this win. Sophomore Terrell Bell came off the bench to score 12 points in 16 minutes, a career high. He was 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.
As a team, Virginia Tech pounded Longwood on the glass, outrebounding the much smaller Lancers 52-27.
Longwood was able to hang around for most of this game, trailing by as few as six points with 8:13 remaining. The main reason was Virginia Tech’s turnovers. The Hokies continued to struggle holding onto the ball, committing 23 turnovers. The Lancers were credited with 15 steals, but Tech’s passes weren’t crisp, players weren’t moving to meet the ball and the Hokies had trouble hanging on to other passes.
Both the first half and the second half were fairly similar. In the first half, Longwood played very competitively until the final few minutes. A three-pointer by Dana Smith with 4:58 left in the first half made the score 22-19 Hokies. However, over the final few minutes of the half, Tech exploded on a 15-2 run that was capped by an A.D. Vassallo three-pointer with 35 seconds remaining. The Hokies went into halftime with a 37-21 lead.
The Lancers slowly crawled their way back into the game in the second half. Trailing 52-40 with 12:56 remaining, Longwood went on a quick 7-0 run to make the score 52-47 with 11:38 left in the game. The run was helped by two Virginia Tech turnovers.
The teams played each other pretty evenly over the next few minutes. Two free throws by Brandon Evans with 8:13 remaining made the score 56-50 Virginia Tech. The Hokies were in control, but this one was too close for comfort.
It didn’t stay that way for long, as Virginia Tech went on a 16-0 run over the next five minutes of the game. Two free throws from A.D. Vassallo made the score 72-50 at the 3:00 mark, and the Hokies went on to coast to the win down the stretch.
Virginia Tech will return to action on Saturday, December 20 at 2pm. They host Columbia on MSGTV in the first round of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival. They’ll then play either St. John’s or Marist on Sunday.
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