Virginia Tech downs Duke with late shot, snaps 7-game slide

Freshman MJ Collins’ tiebreaking basket with 14 seconds remaining propelled Virginia Tech to a 78-75 victory against visiting Duke, snapping a seven-game losing streak Monday night in Blacksburg, Va.

Grant Basile poured in 24 points, Sean Pedulla had 16 and Hunter Cattoor scored 15 for Virginia Tech (12-8, 2-7 Atlantic Coast Conference).

Collins made one of two free-throw attempts with 3.6 seconds left after Duke’s Tyrese Proctor missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer.

The Hokies shot 57.1 percent from the field, making them the first Duke opponent this season to hit better than a 50-percent clip.

Kyle Filipowski’s 29 points and 10 rebounds weren’t enough to keep Duke from falling to 1-4 in true road games. Dariq Whitehead scored 10 first-half points and Proctor had all 10 of his points in the second half for the Blue Devils (14-6, 5-4).

After trailing by 13 points during the first half, Duke pulled even at 51-51 less than four minutes into the second half. Shortly after that, Whitehead was helped to the locker room with an injury to his lower left leg. That was about the time Filipowski picked up his third foul with 15:50 remaining.

But Duke went up 58-53, but it was close the rest of the way.

Cattoor, in only his third game since Christmas because of an injury, had only one basket in the second half — a 3-pointer that broke a 67-67 tie and gave the Hokies the lead until Proctor’s tying 3-pointer at the 38-second mark.

Virginia Tech shot 68 percent (17-for-25) from the field in the first half for a 45-38 lead. The Hokies were 7-for-10 on 3-pointers before the break, with four bagged by Cattoor.

The Blue Devils couldn’t keep up despite hitting 16 of 32 first-half shots, though closing the half on an 8-2 stretch helped their cause.

Duke scored the game’s first seven points, but Virginia Tech surged ahead by the first timeout. It was 29-19 by the time the Hokies hit five of their first seven 3-point attempts. Then later in the half, a 9-2 spurt for Virginia Tech stretched its lead to 38-27.

Virginia Tech’s two ACC victories have come against North Carolina and Duke — the same teams it defeated in the ACC tournament semifinals and final last March.

Duke fell to 7-7 all-time in games at Cassell Coliseum, including 1-5 in the last six trips.

–Field Level Media