The Tech men's basketball team pulled away to a victory over the Fairfield Stags, 74-57, in the opening round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off, played in San Juan.
Senior and Toa Baja native A.D. Vassallo led all scorers with 24 points, shooting nine-of-16 from the field.
"I thought that A.D. made some really nice basketball plays," said head coach Seth Greenberg. "I'm happy he's on my team."
A 15-point first-half lead by the Hokies was trimmed to nine at intermission.
Tech scored the first five points of the second half, but that was countered by an 11-2 run to cut the margin to four points with just over 12 minutes remaining, but Tech -- now 3-0 on the young season -- took control after that. It responded with a 9-0 run to help them pull away from Fairfield.
Freshman Victor Davila, also from Puerto Rico, had a perfect shooting day. In 17 minutes, Davila, from Canovanas, scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds.
"I think Victor Davila has a chance to be really special," Greenberg said. "He just has a real good feel of how to play. When he gets more aggressive, where he can help Jeff rebound the ball, he has a chance to be really good."
Jeff Allen tagged on another 18 points while leading the Hokies in both rebounds (eight) and blocks (five). Tech had eight blocks total.
Fresh off a clutch second-half shooting performance in a close victory over Mount St. Mary's on Monday, Malcolm Delaney notched 10 points and four assists.
The Stags, out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, were held to a 37 percent shooting effort from the field, while Tech was at just over 56 percent -- a season high.
The Hokies also won the rebounding battle, 32-30.
"We made stops and then made some plays," Greenberg said. "When we get stops, we were pretty good. We still have to get better defensively, but we got some stops."
Forward Greg Nero came off the bench to pace Fairfield with 13 points and six boards, both team bests. Herbie Allen added 11, while Anthony Johnson scored 10 points for the 1-2 Stags.
With sophomore J.T. Thompson sidelined for the third consecutive game after undergoing surgery on an inguinal hernia, the Hokies trotted out a starting lineup of Allen, Vassallo, Delaney, Dorenzo Hudson and Cheick Diakite.
Diakite tallied seven points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of play, while Hudson did not score -- attempting only two field goals -- in 19 minutes, but did record two rebounds and an assist.
The Hokies will face Xavier -- who reached the Elite Eight in last year's NCAA Tournament -- in the second round on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
The 3-0 Musketeers topped Missouri in their first round contest by a score of 75-71.
Friday's game will be televised on ESPNU.