Ben Hammond scored 20 points as Virginia Tech held on late for a 71-65 victory over Georgia Tech on Tuesday in Blacksburg, Va.
Jailen Bedford put up 14 points and Christian Gurdak added 11 points and seven rebounds as the Hokies (16-6, 5-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for the third time in four games.
Tobi Lawal delivered 10 points and five rebounds for Virginia Tech, which led by 15 points with 4:26 left before Georgia Tech went on a 15-2 run to slice the deficit to 67-65 with 19 seconds to go.
Hammond and Bedford sewed it up with a pair of free throws each in the final 13 seconds.
Jaeden Mustaf produced 16 points and 11 rebounds for Georgia Tech (11-10, 2-6), which has won just two of its past eight games.
Baye Ndongo added 14 points and nine rebounds and Kam Craft scored all 11 of his points in the first half for the Yellow Jackets.
Lamar Washington led Georgia Tech’s late run, scoring eight of his 12 points in the final 4:20.
Georgia Tech was without starters Mouhamed Sylla, who aggravated an ankle injury Saturday in a loss to Clemson, and Akai Fleming, who sustained a back injury in the same game.
Craft opened the game with a long-distance shooting display. On the Yellow Jackets’ first three possessions, he made 3-pointers, giving Georgia Tech a 9-0 lead.
After that, the Yellow Jackets didn’t make another triple, missing their final 14 attempts from deep.
Virginia Tech responded to Craft’s assault as it reeled off a 15-1 run that featured triples by Amani Hansberry and Hammond. When Neoklis Avdalas capped the burst with another 3-pointer, the Hokies were up 15-10.
Later in the period, after the Yellow Jackets scored eight points in a row to go up 24-20. The Hokies then put together a 14-2 spree, culminated by a trey from Avdalas and a three-point play from Hammond, which helped Virginia Tech secure a 36-30 lead at the break.
The Hokies began to pull away early in the second half as Lawal made a sensational one-handed slam off an alley-oop pass and Bedford followed with a fastbreak slam.
When Hammond drained 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, Virginia Tech held a 53-40 advantage with 13:10 left.
–Field Level Media
