Delaney leads Va. Tech over No. 23 Miami
January 14, 2010
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP)—Malcolm Delaney helped Virginia Tech finally put away aranked team.
He had 28 points and a career-high nine assists, and Virginia Tech raced outto a 35-point lead in the first half on the way to an 81-66 victory over No. 23Miami on Wednesday night.
Terrell Bell scored all of his career-best 13 points in the first half forthe Hokies (13-2, 1-1 ACC), who snapped a five-game losing streak to rankedteams that dated to last season. Virginia Tech went up 11-2 and then put thegame away with a 35-8 run that spanned nearly 13 minutes of the first half.
“It’s so important to win this game because you have to win your home gamesin the league,” Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. “And it was soimportant to win this game so that we had no self-doubt. We are a good team, butthis league, I’m not sure anyone is Kansas or Texas. Everyone, though, is reallygood.”
Bell hit a 3-pointer with 2:43 to go and added a basket with 2:16 remainingto give the Hokies their biggest lead, 48-13. The Hokies shot 62 percent (18 of29) in the first half and led 50-23 at the break.
“It doesn’t hurt when you make 7 of your first 9 3s,” Greenberg said. “Wehad some guys who made some shots. You’re a whole lot smarter when you makeshots. When you make shots, you’re a good coach. When you don’t make shots,you’re a bad coach.”
Delaney, the ACC’s leading scorer at better than 20 points per game,connected of 6 of 14 from the floor but made 14 of 16 from the free-throw line.
Miami (15-2, 1-2) shot just 27 percent in the first half (7 of 26) and hadits seven-game winning streak snapped. The ACC’s leader in 3-pointers madecoming into the game (140) missed its first eight attempts from beyond the arc.The Hurricanes were 6 of 27 on 3s for the game.
“They shot the ball way better from the perimeter than I thought theywould,” Miami head coach Frank Haith said. “They played very well and wedidn’t play very well.”
Bell, who had scored in double figures only once this season, went 5 of 6from the floor. He had never hit more than one 3-pointer in a game in hiscareer, but connected on all three of his attempts—all in the first half.
Jeff Allen added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hokies, while DorenzoHudson had 11 points.
The Hurricanes had only one player in double figures. James Dews led Miamiwith 11 points.
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