Virginia Tech dominates second half, cruises past Miami

Sophomore Jaydon Young scored a career-high 27 points, leading Virginia Tech to an 81-68 win over host Miami in an ACC game on Saturday night.

Ben Burnham scored 14 points for Virginia Tech (12-15, 7-9 ACC), which had a 40-20 advantage on points in the paint. The Hokies shot 52.5 percent from the floor and were 12 of 29 (41.4 percent) on 3-pointers.

A.J. Staton-McCray led Miami (6-21, 2-14) with 21 points, while Lynn Kidd, a former Hokies standout, added 16 points and nine rebounds. The Hurricanes, who are in last place in the ACC, have lost three straight games.

The Hokies were coming off a 54-36 loss to Boston College in their lowest-scoring game in 58 years. But they surpassed that total in the first half Saturday and doubled it with 5:24 remaining.

Miami played without its top two scorers. Matthew Cleveland (16.3 points per game) missed his first game of the season as he has an injured left leg. Nigel Pack (13.9) has been out for most of the season.

For Virginia Tech, third-leading scorer Jaden Schutt returned after missing most of the previous game due to the flu. He had three points. Virginia Tech's second-leading scorer, Mylyjael Poteat (leg) limped off the court with 3:01 left in the first half due and did not return.

Poteat, who had 25 points when Virginia Tech beat Miami 86-85 earlier this season, finished with six points on Saturday.

Miami's Staton-McCray led all first-half scorers with 12 points as the teams played to a 38-38 tie. There were nine lead changes in the first half, when both teams shot better than 53 percent from the floor.

Miami bolted to a 48-42 lead with 15:14 remaining, but the Hokies answered with a 13-0 run and cruised to the victory from there.

--Field Level Media