By JOEDY McCREARY, AP Sports Writer
BUIES CREEK, N.C. (AP) — J.T. Thompson scored a season-high 17 points and Virginia Tech pulled away late for a 71-60 victory against Campbell on Monday night.
Malcolm Delaney shook off a rough shooting night to finish with 15 points and reach the 1,000-point mark for his career with the Hokies (3-0).
Virginia Tech shot 44 percent, had a tough time with a mid-major for the second straight game and were without centerpiece forward Jeff Allen for much of the way with foul trouble. But they came up with enough timely plays to help coach Seth Greenberg claim second place on the school’s career victories list (110).
Jonathan Rodriguez had 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting and Junard Hartley added 10 for the Camels (3-1).
The Camels played host to an Atlantic Coast Conference school for the first time and hung tough for most of the way before falling to 1-27 all-time against the league.
Neither team could generate any separation until the Hokies used a late 14-5 run in which they held Campbell to one field goal over a 6 1/2-minute period, pushing their lead to 59-51 on Dorenzo Hudson’s layup with 5 1/2 minutes remaining.
After the Camels made it a five-point game on Kyle Vejraska’s 3-pointer at the 4-minute mark, Allen converted a three-point play and Hudson knocked down a baseline jumper with 2:12 left to make it 66-56 — the first double-figure lead for either team.
Perhaps most impressively for the Hokies, they did it largely without Allen, who finished with a season-low seven points on 3-for-6 shooting and spent a 12-minute chunk of the second half on the bench with four fouls.
And Delaney — a junior who entered needing 11 points to reach 1,000 for his career — was just 3-for-13 from the field, but reached that milestone on a 3 with 5:54 remaining.
Thompson stepped up for Tech. He had 11 points at halftime, finished 8-for-12 from the field and seemingly whenever the Camels hit a basket to ignite the upset-minded crowd at Gore Arena, Thompson was there to counter with a field goal of his own.
Virginia Tech — which was coming off a 59-46 victory against North Carolina-Greensboro — denied Campbell its first victory against an ACC team since the Camels topped North Carolina State in 1993.
But, at times, the Hokies looked like the young team they are.
With no seniors in the starting lineup and Delaney and Allen in early foul trouble, Tech occasionally seemed rattled by the hostile crowd that staged a white-out inside Campbell’s intimate, 2-year-old arena. The Hokies managed one field goal during a miserable 6 1/2-minute stretch and gave up repeated easy layups to the Camels — including one that prompted an infuriated Greenberg to throw his sportcoat into the bench.
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VIRGINIA TECH (3-0) — Allen 3-6 1-1 7, Bell 2-5 2-2 6, Davila 2-3 2-4 6, Hudson 3-9 4-6 10, Delaney 3-13 6-8 15, Green 2-4 1-2 7, Witcher 0-0 0-1 0, Boggs 1-2 0-0 3, Thompson 8-12 0-0 17. Totals 24-54 16-24 71.
CAMPBELL (3-1) — Rodriguez 7-10 4-6 19, Kossangue 2-3 2-2 7, Dodson 2-8 2-2 6, Hartley 5-7 0-3 10, Merthie 1-5 0-0 3, Vejraska 2-7 2-2 7, Celestin 3-4 0-0 7, Reynolds 0-0 1-2 1, Taylor 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 22-44 11-19 60.
Halftime—Virginia Tech 33-31. 3-Point Goals—Virginia Tech 7-18 (Delaney 3-9, Green 2-3, Thompson 1-1, Boggs 1-2, Hudson 0-3), Campbell 5-11 (Kossangue 1-1, Merthie 1-2, Rodriguez 1-2, Celestin 1-2, Vejraska 1-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Virginia Tech 35 (Allen 9), Campbell 27 (Dodson 7). Assists—Virginia Tech 17 (Delaney 5), Campbell 12 (Hartley 6). Total Fouls—Virginia Tech 18, Campbell 21. A—3,205.
