Box Score

Virginia Tech 79, Charleston Southern 49

 

Playing at home for the first time since Dec. 19^th, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team showed a tremendous burst of energy, bolting out to a 16-0 lead and never looking back in routing Charleston Southern University 79-49 in a non-conference game played Monday night at Cassell Coliseum.

With the win, the Hokies extended their streak of non-conference wins at Cassell Coliseum to 20 straight games. They moved to 9-6 overall on the season, while the Buccaneers, members of the Big South Conference, fell to 6-9.

Tech took care of things on both ends of the court early in this one. A.D. Vassallo scored nine of the first 16 points for the Hokies, and Tech's defense, strong for the majority of the season, held Charleston Southern without a point for the first 7:30 of the game. The Buccaneers finally got on the board when Omar Carter scored on a lay-up at the 12:30 mark of the first half. Tech led by as many as 21 in the first half and by 16 at the break.

"It's always important to get off to a good start," Tech forward Deron Washington said. "I think we all knew this was a must win for us because we're getting ready to start ACC play. So the guys came out and played pretty good. We came out and fought and worked hard the entire game."

"Hopefully, we can keep that up," Vassallo said. "We usually don't get off to good starts. We usually start slow. Hopefully we can continue that trend."

The second half was pretty much the same story for the Hokies, though the Buccaneers cut the Tech lead to 13 on a 3-pointer by Chris Moore with 13:52 left in the game. But a 19-4 run after that, capped by a Vassallo 3-pointer, put the game away for the Hokies.

Vassallo, who scored just eight points in Tech's loss to Richmond, led the Hokies with a game-high 21 points, hitting 9-of-18 from the floor, including three 3-pointers. Tech placed four players in double figures, with Washington, Hank Thorns and Jeff Allen adding 10 points each.

It marked just the second double-figure scoring game of the season for Thorns, the freshman point guard who threw in 14 against Eastern Washington in the Great Alaskan Shootout. Allen grabbed 10 rebounds as well for his sixth double-double of the season.

Carter led the Buccaneers with 18 points. As a team, Charleston Southern shot just 32.2 percent from the floor, marking the ninth time this season the Hokies have held a foe to under 40 percent shooting from the floor.

The game marked the end of the Hokies' non-conference slate. Tech now plays ACC games from here on out, starting with Saturday's game against Maryland at Cassell Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.

"From here on, there are no more easy games," Vassallo said. "Every game is going to be tough. We're going to be facing great teams and great coaches. Guys are going to have to really pay attention to the scouting reports now because they're vital. Everybody has to be focused. If we have one guy who is not focused, then that's going to disrupt everything else."

"I think our young guys are looking forward to it," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "That's why they came here. They wanted to play in the ACC. They're in the part of the season where they want to be. This is what it's all about."