BLACKSBURG – Seeking a fourth straight win to open the season, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team defeated Lehigh 79-53 on Saturday afternoon at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies (4-0, 1-0 ACC) defeated the Hawks (2-2) on Saturday behind redshirt freshman Landers Nolley II's 27 points and a career-high seven 3-pointers. Nolley has led Tech in scoring in three out of the first four games played.
Tech could not miss from downtown, nailing 14 triples, a new season high, while defensively it played strong, too, forcing the Hawks to cough up 19 turnovers while owning four blocks and eight steals, with three of those swipes coming from guard Wabissa Bede.
Forward P.J. Horne posted a season-high 14 points along with five rebounds. Freshman Hunter Cattoor added 11 points on 50 percent shooting from the field.
With the win, Tech has now won its first four games in consecutive seasons for the first time since the fall of the 1981 and 1982 seasons.
THE GAME
Trailing 18-13 halfway through the first half, Horne drilled a jumper followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Cattoor to give Tech a 21-18 advantage. Late in the first half, the Hokies led by just five points when Bede hit a shot and Nolley nailed a triple. This would spark a 7-2 run to close out the half and give Tech a 37-32 lead entering the break.
The Hokies came out of the gate hot, jumping out to a quick 46-34 lead early on in the second. With just under 12 minutes to go in the half, Cattoor finished a fastbreak lay-up, Nolley hit a jumper in the paint and then it was capped off by Cattoor from behind the arc, giving the Hokies a 55-38 advantage.
With under nine minutes to go in the game, Nolley took it up a notch with three straight triples from downtown, pushing the Hokie advantage to 69-42. The Hawks would not recover, as Tech took care of Lehigh late in the second half, winning the game 79-53.
QUOTING VIRGINIA TECH COACH MIKE YOUNG
On how the team played defensively:
"Disciplined – where we needed to be," Young said. "Guys immersing themselves in the scouting report. [Associate Head Coach] Chester Frazier did an exceptional job in preparing our team for Lehigh's actions, which are very good. Brett Reed is a very good coach. Iit was his team that beat Duke there several years ago in the NCAA Tournament. [Defensively], it's just attention to detail.
"We did something we weren't going to do – put Tyrece [Radford] on the point guard. So much of what they do goes through the point guard and they ran a more difficult action and Tyrece guarded it exactly the way we talked about guarding it. He's typically guarding the three, but we moved him to the one, and he guards it perfectly. Tyrece Radford is playing great for us – five offensive rebounds at the half, six for the game. He's the king of the 50/50 ball, with that ball that Lehigh's got as much of a chance to get as we do, you've got to dominate that part of it and Tyrece Radford is a big part of that for us."
GAME NOTES
- Cattoor shot 50 percent from the field, went 3-for-7 from deep and added a career-high 11 points, topping his previous career high of nine points set last game against USC Upstate.
- Nolley led the team in scoring for the second straight game recording 27 points. Nolley hit seven 3-pointers, which is his career high. Nolley also added career-high four assists.
- Radford played a career-high 29 minutes and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Radford also shot 4 of 6 from the field with eight points on the day.
- Bede tallied six assists, eight versus USCU Upstate and had 10 against Coppin State, totaling to 24 over a three-game span.
- Horne shot 6 for 8 from the field and recorded a season-high 14 points, including two 3s, and five rebounds. Horne has hit a three in every game this season.
UP NEXT
The Hokies will face Delaware State on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. ET at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.Gallery: (11/16/2019) 2019 MEN'S BASKETBALL vs. LEHIGH
