Sean Pedulla scored a career-high 32 points on six made 3-pointers to help lead Virginia Tech to an 87-72 victory over visiting No. 21 Clemson on Wednesday in Blacksburg, Va.
Tyler Nickel also had a career scoring night, putting up a collegiate-best 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field, including five triples, for Virginia Tech. Robbie Beran added 8 points and 8 rebounds for the Hokies, (10-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) who broke a two-game losing streak.
No. 21 Clemson (11-4, 1-3) was led in scoring by Ian Schieffelin, who had 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field. Chauncey Wiggins and Joe Girard III followed with 12 points apiece, while the team's leading scorer on the season, PJ Hall (19.5 ppg), struggled throughout, scoring just 11 points on 4-for-13 from the field.
After trailing by nine points at halftime, Clemson cut the deficit to four points on several occasions, but couldn't trim the lead to one-possession in the second half.
After a Schieffelin hook shot cut the lead to four with 6:59 left, Nickel scored five straight to push the lead to 75-66.
Nickel scored eight straight for Virginia Tech from the 6:15 mark to the 3:51 point of the second half en route to the Hokie victory.
In the first half, Virginia Tech put on an offensive display, connecting on 20 of its 31 (64.5 percent) field goals, including a 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) 3-point performance. The Hokies held a 53-44 lead at the break, led by 19 points (6-for-8 from the field) from Pedulla, followed by Nickel, who poured in 16 points (6-for-7).
Virginia Tech held its largest lead of the first half with 1:26 left, thanks to a Mekhi Long dunk that gave the Hokies a 50-37 advantage.
A Wiggins triple at the first-half buzzer cut the Tigers deficit to nine.
Clemson shot 55.2 percent (16-for-29) from the field in the first half and was led by Schieffelin's 9 points.
Virginia Tech's all-time leading 3-point shooter, Hunter Cattoor, was kicked in the face inadvertently by Clemson's RJ Godfrey and had to exit in the first half. Cattoor would not return.
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