Highlights up by 10 PM  |  Boxscore

It wasn’t pretty for the first 20 minutes, in fact, it was down-right ugly, but the Hokies exploded for 48 second half points and won 73-64 at the Cassell over a solid st. bonaventure club.  And don’t let the name fool you, the bonnies are a solid club in the A-10 and this likely will wind up as a top 100 win for the Hokies.

The first half set basketball back about 30 years.  Virginia Tech committed 10 turnovers while st. bonaventure started out just 5/26 from the field and were at 27% for the half.  Tech, after jumping to a 9-2 lead in the first 3 minutes, would go over 5 minutes without scoring after that (luckily the bonnies only scored 3 during that stretch so VT was still up 9-5), would only score 4 points over 12 minutes, and just 6 points over 14 minutes.  The Hokies were a turnover machine during this stretch, turning it over on 5 consecutive possessions at one point.  Yet Virginia Tech never trailed in the first half or the game thanks to the bonnies cold shooting.  The bonnies tied the game at 15 with 3:30 left in the first half, but VT used triples by Robert Brown and Dorian Finney-Smith in the final minute to take a 25-21 lead to the break.  Green paced the Hokies with 7.

Virginia Tech got it going on offense in the second half.  Tech shot better than 50% from the field and 3-point range, and hit 18/23 from the line.

The Hokies jumped up 11 early in the second half, up 36-25, but watched the bonnies battle back within 3 at 48-45 with 7:30 to go.  But Tech took advantage of Andrew Nicholson’s 4 fouls inside and started attacking the tin.  Plus, some clutch 3-point shooting helped Tech put this game away.  An Eddie 3-pointer put VT up 53-45 with 6:49 to go, and Davila’s ‘and-1′ fouled out Nicholson and put VT up 65-54 with 2:30 to go.  That was ballgame.

We saw a couple of familiar themes in this win:

• GOOD: The Hokies continue to have balanced scoring: 4 Hokies reached double digits for the game with Green scoring 19, Davila 13, Finney-Smith and Eddie with 11, and Hudson with 8.
• BAD: VT couldn’t rebound on defense, or free throws, to save their life: st. bonaventure had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and 17 for the game.
• GOOD: Virginia Tech shot the lights out from deep: Tech was 3/8 from behind the arc in the first half and 4/7 in the second half.   Tech hit 47% for the game and are now over 40% for the season.  I did NOT expect that.
• BAD: The Hokies love to turn the ball over in first half: 10 turnovers.
• GOOD: Tech cleaned it up in the second half: 0 turnovers and that led to 48 points.
• BAD: Tech let an 11-point lead nearly slip away, with st. bonnie getting within 3 (though the good side to this is once again VT held on.
• GOOD: Doe Doe is not extinct on the stat sheet: He had 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists, just missing his 4th double-double of the year.

The Hokies return to action on Wednesday night late with a huge match-up at minnesota (Tubby Smith) in the ACC/Big(12) Challenge.