Hokies secure fifth ACC victory Tuesday night with 71-65 win over Yellow Jackets

BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech weathered an early 9-0 run by the visiting Yellow Jackets and steadied themselves to earn a fifth ACC victory Tuesday night at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies walked off 71-65 winners over Georgia Tech to advance to 16-6 (5-4) ahead of a home clash against No. 4 Duke.

Kam Craft hit three 3's in the first two minutes of the game to get the Yellow Jackets off to a hot start, but the Hokies rallied with a big run of their own, scoring 15 of the game's next 16 points to grab a lead that they would never relinquish.

Tech did it methodically, with four different athletes recording double figure scoring totals, led once again by Ben Hammond who contined his fine form with a 20-point outing. The sophomore guard also led the team in 3-pointers with three on the night.

Jailen Bedford, who recently scored the 1,000th point of his career set a season-hgih with hois four assists to go with his 14 points that included two huge dunks.

The Hokies' largest lead was 15 at around the four minute mark before the Jackets began pressing and buckets were hard to come by. Virginia Tech did not make a field goal for the final 6:58 of game time, but made enough free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.

Tobi Lawal (10) and Christian Gurdak (11) were also in double figures.

GAME NOTES
•The starters for Virginia Tech were Neoklis Avdalas, Ben Hammond, Jailen Bedford, Tobi Lawal and Amani Hansberry. It was the ninth different starting combination that Mike Young has used this season.
•Virginia Tech committed just eight turnovers in the game, with the backcourt players combining for 124 minutes and zero giveaways.
•After Georgia Tech started the game 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, the Jackets went 0-14 from deep in the final 38 minutes.

UP NEXT
The Hokies will return to Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum for a noon tip against No. 4 Duke on Saturday, Jan. 31. While the game is sold out, fans still wishing to purchase Hokies vs. Blue Devils single-game tickets can secure seats through SeatGeek, the official fan-to-fan ticket marketplace of Virginia Tech Athletics.