Today’s sold-out match-up featuring the Lehigh Mountain Hawks and the Virginia Tech Hokies got off to slow and sloppy start, with the Hokies trailing 8-4 four and a half minutes into the game. You have to wonder if the 3:30 kick off of the football Hokies was weighing on Blacksburg’s mind. The Mountain Hawks are no strangers to playing and beating Power 5 teams. However, Mike Young invigorated his team coming out of a TV timeout, with the Hokies stringing together an 8-0 run, including back-to-back triples coming off of steals from Nolley and Cattoor. Blacksburg PD must have been watching the football pregame show, because the Hokies got away with 6 steals, leading to 14 first-half points. All preseason, height and rebounding were concerns, but no one told the Hokies because they rattled off 10 offensive rebounds, resulting in 8 second-chance points to start the game. Landers Nolley continued to shine with 13 points including 3 swishes beyond the arc. P.J. Horne was a force early, with 7 quick points and 5 big boards.

The second half got off to a similarly slow start, with Horne sinking the Hokies only bucket 2 minutes into the half. But that was short lived, with the Landers Nolley and Hunter Cattoor show taking the main stage. Nolley and Cattoor fired off a barrage of threes, with the duo finishing 9 of 20 from deep for the game. The roof almost blew off Cassell after Cattoor channeled his inner Giannis Antetokounmpo for a smooth steal and euro-step finish around the defender for a fast-break two. Lehigh attempted to regain control of the game with a series of timeouts, but nothing could stop the head of steam that was the Hokies offense in the second half. Nolley finished with an impressive 27 points and 5 rebounds, including 7 of 12 from three. It is hard to believe that his kind of stat line is becoming his usual, but Hokie Nation continues to watch in awe. Horne was also hot from the floor, adding 14 points. Cattoor contributed 11 points, mostly in his show-stopping second half performance. Finally, Radford was a monster on the boards with 11 rebounds, including 6 offensive grabs. Ultimately the well-rounded team effort resulted in a 79-53 Hokies victory!