Collegiate Times

Tech forward Cadarian Raines attempts to block a shot Saturday.

With that kind of poor offense, most teams would buckle and be blown out, but the Hokies know how to play defense and know how to win close games this year.

“That’s the type of team we have,” Delaney said. “We can win games shooting 15 percent in the first half. That shows what type of team we are. Not many teams can do that and get stops. A lot of teams probably would have been down 15 to 20 (points). We’re going to fight regardless. We were diving on the floor. JT (Thompson) took a charge today — that’s like his first career charge. We just do all the dirty work.”

Delaney converted two free throws with 1:10 left in the first half to give Tech its first lead of the game, and it went into halftime with a 29-27 lead.

The second half featured back-and-forth action for the first five minutes as both teams were unable to string together a run.

Booker took his fourth foul with 13:14 left. That allowed Tech’s offense to open up and defense to clamp down. The Hokies went on a 9-2 run after that and never looked back.

“In the second half, we decided we couldn’t run the offense because they were so aggressive,” Greenberg said. “We were just going to spread the court, set some spread-ball screens and try to drive.”

The Hokies put the final nail in the Tigers’ coffin when Bell chased down Demontez Stitt on a breakaway and blocked his layup.

This energized the Hokies to close out the game with swarming defense. Junior forward Jeff Allen had key steals late in the game. He finished with 13 points, six rebounds and four steals. Clemson could no longer win battles in the paint, and the Hokies improved to 12-0 at Cassell Coliseum.

“He’s got such long arms,” Greenberg said. “He made two great plays. (Allen going for steals) is sometimes feast or famine, but today we’re eating well.”

Tech travels to North Carolina State on Wednesday for a bout with the Wolfpack. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPNU.

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 9 issue of the Collegiate Times.