Ben Hammond scored 17 points off the bench to lead lots of offense as Virginia Tech snapped a six-game losing streak by defeating visiting North Carolina A&T 95-67 on Thursday night in Blacksburg, Va.
Patrick Wessler and Rodney Brown Jr. each supplied 13 points, Mylyjael Poteat had 11 points and Tobi Lawal contributed 10 for the Hokies (4-6).
Virginia Tech wiped away offensive doldrums by bolting to a 52-32 halftime lead — shooting 51.3 percent from the field in the opening half. The Hokies outshot the Aggies 50 percent to 37.9 percent overall.
North Carolina A&T’s Landon Glasper poured in 19 points. Jahnathan Lamothe and Ryan Forrest had 14 points apiece, with Lamothe adding a game-high 11 rebounds, and Nikolaos Chitikoudis notched 13 points for the Aggies (3-7), who lost their fifth game in a row.
North Carolina A&T, playing its seventh road game of the season, hit three of its first five attempts from 3-point range after going 3-for-23 in Saturday’s home loss to UNC Greensboro. But the Aggies couldn’t keep up, getting dominated in the lane and on the boards.
Ben Burnham’s 3-pointer capped Virginia Tech’s 16-0 run late in the first half. North Carolina A&T scored the last six points of the half.
The Hokies didn’t reach the 65-point mark in any game during their skid, but on Thursday night an 11-0 run made it 65-41 with 13:48 still to play. Virginia Tech slowed down late, posting only nine points in the last seven minutes.
Virginia Tech finished with a 48-30 edge on the glass. Burnham added nine rebounds to his eight points.
Hammond and Brown each sank three of the Hokies’ 14 baskets from beyond the 3-point arc.
Glasper, who missed the previous game because of a disciplinary reason, posted 11 of North Carolina A&T’s first 18 points.
The Hokies have won all eight meetings between the teams. They hadn’t met since 2018.
–Field Level Media
