Virginia Tech basketball: Hokies cruise to an impressive blowout win over Dayton

The Virginia Tech Hokies won their fourth consecutive game with a 77-49 victory over the Dayton Flyers Wednesday night in Blacksburg.

The game was close until the Hokies began to pull away with around eight minutes remaining in the first half. Dayton forward Zimi Nwokeji made a layup with around 8:49 remaining to cut Virginia Tech’s lead to 21-16. Virginia Tech forward Grant Basile quickly answered with a 3-pointer and the Hokies were off to the races.

Tech would go on a 19-2 run over the next several minutes to take a 40-18 lead. The Hokies went into halftime with a 42-21 lead and never looked back.

Basile led the way with another impressive performance, scoring 23 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Sophomore point guard Sean Pedulla contributed 19 points, while sophomore guard Darius Maddox chipped in with 12 points to lead Virginia Tech to, arguably, its most impressive performance of the season.

Senior star Justyn Mutts picked up two quick fouls in the first half and sat for much of the game’s first 20 minutes. Mutts would end up playing only 22 minutes, scoring two points and finishing with five rebounds. The good news for the Hokies was they didn’t really need a lot from Mutts on Wednesday.

The Hokies certainly weren’t perfect. They made just nine of 28 from beyond the arc and were outrebounded 42-35. However, the defense was stifling, holding the Flyers to 30% shooting from the floor and only 20% from 3-point range.

Virginia Tech is now 9-1 [1-0] on the season and will play Oklahoma State at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn Sunday. As we all know, the Hokies like playing in Brooklyn.