Virginia Tech stormed back from a 19-point, first-half deficit to survive an upset scare from Elon in an 82-81 overtime victory Saturday in Blacksburg, Va.
Amani Hansberry dominated in the paint with game-highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. Christian Gurdak scored 17, Ben Hammond had 15 and Izaiah Pasha scored 11 for the Hokies (11-2).
Chandler Cuthrell paced the Phoenix (7-5) with 18 points and Isaac Harrell added 16 points and nine rebounds going 6-for-7 from the field and sinking all four of his treys. Kacper Klaczek added 11 points.
With Hansberry fouling out 1:09 into overtime and Tyler Johnson leaving the game due to injury soon after, Virginia Tech struggled, missing three of five shots to start the period.
After trading buckets, DeMarco Johnson got an easy layup for an 81-80 Elon lead with 25 seconds left.
Gurdak, starting due to multiple Virginia Tech injuries, got the ball inside and finished over an Elon defender to flip it for a Hokie one-point lead with 10 seconds left.
Virginia Tech forced a turnover on the next possession and Elon was blocked on the final possession to cement the victory.
Elon was held to shooting just 41.2% in the second half and overtime.
A string of three straight 3-pointers with two from Jaden Schutt, one of which an imprpbable off-balance shot from the left corner, pulled the Hokies within 53-50 with 12:35 to play.
Virginia Tech opened the half 4-for-7 from 3-point range after going 0-for-6 in the first half.
After trading buckets, the Hokies took their first lead of the day with 5:25 left in the game as Hansberry cleaned up the offensive glass again and got fouled on a layup.
Hansberry made a tough jumper to tie it at 72 after a layup by Cuthrell with 28 seconds left in regulation. Elon had a shot to win the game at the buzzer but Klaczek airballed a jumper with two seconds left to send the game to overtime.
The Phoenix started out hot to spark a 25-12 run across the first half that helped give Elon a 40-22 lead with 3:46 left in the half. Elon made seven of its first 12 3s and was 17-for-27 to open the game.
The Hokies started to come alive and closed the half on a 13-2 run, holding Elon without a bucket for over three minutes.
Gurdak was fouled hard on a tough layup with 13 seconds left, and Pasha cleaned up his free throw miss to cut the lead to just 43-35 into halftime.
–Field Level Media
