Miami Rolls In 2nd Half, Beats Virginia Tech 76-52
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Sheldon McClellan scored 21 points, Tonye Jekiri finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds and Miami shook off a slow start to easily beat Virginia Tech 76-52 on Wednesday night.
Angel Rodriguez added 11 points for the Hurricanes (17-9, 7-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who used a 17-4 run to open up what was a three-point game at halftime and kept steadily adding to the lead.
Adam Smith scored 15 for Virginia Tech (10-16, 2-11), which made its first three shots — then missed 23 of its next 30. Devin Wilson and Justin Bibbs each finished with 11 for the Hokies.
Things got a bit heated in the second half, with both Miami coach Jim Larranaga and Hokies coach Buzz Williams earning technical fouls after arguing calls.
When Williams got his technical, not much changed.
When Larranaga got his, everything changed in a hurry.
After Virginia Tech scored six straight — coinciding with when Larranaga got his technical, then removed his jacket and implored the crowd to get louder by waving his arms, as did McClellan — the Hurricanes put the game away.
McClellan made a 3-pointer from the corner near the Miami bench, Rodriguez added a layup and before long the Hurricanes had put together a 18-5 run to take a 64-41 lead with 6:26 left.
TIP-INS
Virginia Tech: Malik Muller sported a large bandage over his left eye for most of the game, after getting banged up going after a loose ball in the early going. ... The Hokies lost their 17th straight road game. They haven't won on an opponent's floor since Dec. 8, 2013 — against Miami. ... It was Virginia Tech's 38th loss since the start of 2013-14; among power-conference schools, only Boston College and South Florida have lost more games in that span.
Miami: The Hurricanes won back-to-back games for the third time since starting the season 8-0. ... Miami has now matched its win total from last season, with at least six games left to play. ... Miami is now 81-10 at Bank United Center when scoring at least 75 points.
RODRIGUEZ WATCH
Rodriguez might have finally broken out of his scoring slump in the second half. He was scoreless at the break then scored 11 in a 10-minute span of the second half. It was just the second double-digit game in the last seven for Rodriguez — who scored at least 10 points 15 times in the season's first 19 contests.
MIGHTY 15
Jekiri became the 11th player in Division I this season to have a game with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds while shooting at least 80 percent. He finished 6 for 7 from the floor, four of those makes being dunks.
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