Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech used a 10-0 run late in the first half to break open a close game and Malcolm Delaney scored 19 of his game-high 31 points in the second half to lift the Hokies past Georgia 74-62 in a non-conference game Sunday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum.
The win moved Tech to 6-1 overall on the season and avenged last season’s one-point loss to the Bulldogs in Athens. The Hokies also snapped Georgia’s five-game winning streak against Tech.
“This is a good win for us,” Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “We’ve got a win against the Big Ten [Iowa] and the SEC [Georgia]. I really don’t care where people pick them. Those guys beat Florida last year and they beat us, and we played a whole lot better in this game than we did against Delaware and Campbell. We’re making progress and finding a way to win. That’s a good thing.”
With the score tied at 18, the Hokies scored 10 straight to take a 28-18 lead and they never trailed again. In the second half, Delaney – the ACC’s leading scorer at 21.2 points per game coming into this contest – scored 12 of Tech’s first 16 second-half points, helping the Hokies build a 15-point lead.
Delaney hit 10-of-19 from the floor, as the Hokies hit a season-high 47.2 percent. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists.
“I had been off balance with my shot and I hadn’t been able to work on it,” Delaney said. “I can tell when I’m not shooting normally and we were away, so I couldn’t get in the gym. Today, I came in early and got some shots up, and I was able to work on my balance.”
Georgia (4-3) cut the lead to six on a free throw by Trey Thompkins with 7:56 left in the game. But the Hokies got a three-point play from Victor Davila on their next possession and that sparked a 13-4 run that put the game away.
Davila played his best game of the season, scoring a season-high 11 points and grabbing a career-high nine rebounds – five offensive. He hit just 3-of-8 from the floor, but the big guy canned all five of his free-throw attempts.
“He was much more aggressive rebounding the ball,” Greenberg said. “He was aggressive with his post defense. He went after the ball. He was really good. He blocked out and came back to pursue the ball. That was probably his best game against good competition.”
Jeff Allen came off the bench for the second straight game and he scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Travis Leslie led the Bulldogs with 17 points and Ricky McPhee added 10. Thompkins, Georgia’s leading scorer coming in at 15 points per game, scored just five and did not make a shot from the floor (0-of-6).
“We did a good job with Thompkins,” Greenberg said. “He’s a really good player and you have to give Jeff [Allen] and JT [Thompson] credit for that. Thompkins is a really, really good player, and those two guys did a good job on him.
“Overall, I thought our defense was solid. We were active and we rotated. We gave good help.”
The Hokies now gear up for an in-state foe, VMI. The Keydets come to Blacksburg on Wednesday night. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.