Virginia Tech basketball: No. 20 Hokies down No. 19 Duke, 74-67

The No. 20 Virginia Tech Hokies picked up their second win in three days on Tuesday, defeating No. 19 Duke, 74-67, in Blacksburg.

It was a game that was truly never in doubt for the Hokies, who had a 46-31 lead just before halftime when Duke rattled home a three-point bucket to make it a 12-point lead for VT. Virginia Tech was red-hot in the first half, shooting almost 63 percent from the floor.

But, in basketball, everyone makes a run, and Duke was no different in the second half.

Duke’s defense tightened up, and the Blue Devils trimmed Tech’s lead down to 61-57 with under eight minutes remaining when sophomore guard Jalen Cone hit a big three to push Tech’s lead back up to seven.

That’s all the Hokies would need to beat Duke and moved to 10-2 on the season with a 4-1 mark in ACC play.

Sophomore guard Tyrece Radford led Virginia Tech with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in one of his more complete games recently. Forward Keve Aluma was outstanding once again, scoring 17 points and pulling down seven rebounds.

Cone was outstanding as usual, scoring 14 points off the bench.

The Hokies outrebounded Duke, 34-33, shot 50 percent from the floor and held the Devils to 40 percent from the field.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski offered up some high — and true — praise for Mike Young’s Hokies after the game.

He’s right. They are good.

Next up for the Hokies is a trip to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on Sunday.