Sean Pedulla scored 17 points to help propel Virginia Tech to a 67-57 win over Minnesota Monday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Blacksburg, Va.
Justyn Mutts tallied 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while Grant Basile added nine points, eight rebounds and four blocks as Virginia Tech (7-1) remained undefeated at home in five games.
With Pedulla scoring all but two of the points in a 13-point run late in the first half, Virginia Tech took a lead that it would not relinquish. In the second half, Minnesota (4-3) never made a serious run at the lead.
Virginia Tech’s defensive stopper Hunter Cattoor limited Minnesota’s top threat Jamison Battle to six points. Battle, the team’s top scorer last year who is coming off October foot surgery, made just 2 of 10 shots, most of them heavily contested.
Basile and the Hokies also defended the Gophers’ Dawson Garcia well. The 6-foot-11 forward, who entered scoring at a 15.8 ppg clip, had five points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Ta’lon Cooper led Minnesota with 13 points and five assists, while Pharrel Payne contributed 13 points and six rebounds. Joshua Ola-Joseph added 11 points off the Gophers’ bench.
The Hokies shot 49.1 percent from the floor and hit 5 of 14 shots from beyond the arc (35.7 percent) while Minnesota shot 36.7 percent from the floor and made 6 of 23 3-point attempts (26.1 percent). Virginia Tech won the battle of the boards 42-27.
Virginia Tech took control late in the first half when Pedulla triggered the 13-point spree with a 3-pointer. He added four more buckets in the run, which gave the Hokies a 35-22 lead.
Battle opened the second half with a 3-pointer that got the deficit into single digits. But Mutts and Basile made consecutive baskets, and after that the Hokies never led by fewer than 10 points.
The lead reached its apex with 4:52 left when Mutts scored on a turnaround jumper for a 63-43 lead. Mutts scored 12 of his points in the second half.
Mylyjael Poteat gave Virginia Tech a lift off the bench scoring eight points.
–Field Level Media
