Virginia Tech picked up their third win out of four Saturday afternoon as they succeeded in taking down the sixth ranked UVa Cavaliers 74-68.

This was a game that was closely contested from the get go. Although there was not a single minute where the Cavaliers led, Virginia Tech struggled to take advantage of a woeful first half UVa offense. Coach Bennett’s side finished the first 20 shooting 39.3% from the field having attempted 28 shots. For coach Young his side took the same amount of shots yet only converted two more. Thus leaving the score reading 32-30 Hokies leading into the break. Sean Pedulla led all scorers at the break with 14. Most thought this UVa defense was only going to continue to get more stingy, afterall on an away day at a rocking Cassell and you are only down by two I am sure most Cavalier fans were confident this game would turn around.

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The second half of this game followed suit, both teams feeling each other out. Virginia Tech extended the lead to six three minutes in and in an instant UVa erased the lead to bring it back to 38 all with just under 16 minutes left to play. Although Virginia Tech fans grew more and more confident as the minutes wore on halfway to the second half, it was becoming apparent that this game for the Hokies was gonna be decided by two factors. The first being the play of Hunter Cattoor. Cattoor was not having his usual big game night that he typically does against big time opponents. Up until the 10:42 mark the guard from Orlando was 0-6 from the field. Finally the transfer senior knocked down what would be his first three of a crucial 10 points through the final 10 minutes. Okay, Cattoor has the lid off the rim he then rattles a second in to extend the Tech lead to 10. Hokies can smell victory right? Well not exactly, thanks to a five nothing run from Kihei Clark the lead is cut right back down and then seemingly out of nowhere, Pedulla picks up his fourth foul. The guard residing from Edmond Oklahoma was the Hokies catalyst. Up until this point Pedulla had the game high in 18 points and was 1/2 of the big time scoring output (Mutts also had quite the display finishing with 17 points and eight assists and four boards but I digress.) Now all the sudden when the Cavs were creeping back in, Young had to sit his on fire guard until crunch time. In comes Grant Basile, although Basile’s defense has been exploited multiple times this season it has often taken a back seat due to his dynamic offensive ability. Saturday afternoon proved the same, over the final 6:42 Basile scored nine of his team's final 17. Thanks to Basile and a noticeable impact from freshman guard MJ Collins and Cattoor, Virginia Tech was just able to see this game out. Although the Cavaliers were able to score at a more efficient rate in the second half, they were yet to draw the lead to any closer than four over the last six minutes.

Player of the game must go to Justyn Mutts, Mutts led his team in field goal percentage (7/11) while also nearing triple-double numbers. Mutts also led the game in my favorite stat, the plus minus in which he alongside Cattoor finished with plus eight.

Virginia Tech improves to 14-9 (4-8), they will attempt to continue their newfound form as they host Boston College this Wednesday at 7 PM.

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