Virginia Tech jumped out to a big lead early in the first half and beat Charleston Southern 73-50 on Saturday night in Blacksburg. The Hokies continued the best start of the Seth Greenberg era, and are now 9-1 on the year. Charleston Southern dropped to 4-6.
The Hokies enjoyed their best overall shooting night of the season, going 27-of-49 (55.1%) from the field. They were also 8-of-21 (38.1%) from three-point range. Charleston Southern stayed in a zone for most of the game, and Tech burned it with three-pointers early in the first half. The Hokies got into a shooting slump late in the first half and early in the second half, but then Malcolm Delaney turned it on and led Tech to the easy win.
Delaney finished with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He was 6-of-10 from three-point range and hit both of his free throw attempts, while dishing out six assists. The only negative part of Delaney’s night were his seven turnovers, but he more than made up for it with his scoring.
Dorenzo Hudson scored 14 points, while J.T. Thompson had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The surprising contributor of the night was freshman wing Manny Atkins, who played 18 minutes. He gave the Hokies a spark in the first half, and he finished the game with six points, three steals and two assists.
Virginia Tech outrebounded Charleston Southern 32-31, but they allowed too many offensive rebounds. The Buccaneers grabbed 15 offensive rebounds on the night and scored 11 second chance points. Jeff Allen had nine points and seven rebounds, but Victor Davila had just five points and two boards in 25 minutes. He must get more consistent as the Hokies move towards ACC play.
Tech began this game on a 17-2 run. The game was never tied, and Charleston Southern never had a lead. Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson each had two three-pointers during the run, and the Buccaneers found themselves trailing 17-2 just over five minutes into the game.
At that point, Tech’s shooting went cold. They hit four of their first five three-point attempts to jump out to the early lead, but they didn’t score again until the 11:41 mark on a Manny Atkins layup. However, the Hokies kept playing good defense and Charleston Southern was never able to make a serious threat. The Buccaneers had just six points at the eight minute mark in the first half.
Charleston Southern was able to gradually chip away at the lead over the closing moments, but Malcolm Delaney banked in a driving layup at the buzzer to end the half. Virginia Tech went into halftime leading 33-21.
Virginia Tech went on a scoring explosion early in the second half to put the game away. The 20-3 run was started by an offensive rebound and putback by Terrell Bell, and Malcolm Delaney drained a trio of three-pointers in a two-minute span. J.T. Thompson capped the run with an “and one”, as he was fouled on a layup and then converted the free throw.
The Hokies led Charleston Southern 53-28 with 11:15 remaining following the big run. The Buccaneers were never able to get the lead under 21 points after that, and Tech coasted to the easy win.
Virginia Tech returns to action on Tuesday night when they host Maryland-Baltimore County. Tip-off is scheduled for 7pm in Cassell Coliseum.
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