{"id":97475,"date":"2026-02-21T16:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/894403870"},"modified":"2026-02-21T16:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:30:06","slug":"avdalas-and-lawal-each-score-17-points-as-virginia-tech-beats-wake-forest-82-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/21\/avdalas-and-lawal-each-score-17-points-as-virginia-tech-beats-wake-forest-82-63\/","title":{"rendered":"Avdalas and Lawal each score 17 points as Virginia Tech beats Wake Forest 82-63"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) \u2014 Neoklis Avdalas and Tobi Lawal each scored 17 points and Virginia Tech pulled away in the second half for an 82-63 win over Wake Forest on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Hokies (18-10, 7-8 ACC) shot 51% from the field and led 43-33 at halftime, snapping a two-game skid while handing the Demon Deacons their first loss in four games. Lawal finished 7 of 11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, while Amani Hansberry added 13 points and Ben Hammond finished with 12 points and five assists. Avaldas had seven assists.<\/p>\n

Wake Forest (14-13, 5-9) trimmed the deficit to eight early in the second half, but Virginia Tech answered with a decisive run. A 3-pointer by Avdalas sparked a stretch that included back-to-back 3s from Hansberry and Jailen Bedford, pushing the lead to 61-45 with 11:25 remaining. The margin never dropped below 16 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Christian Gurdak provided a key lift off the bench, scoring 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting. The Hokies had six players finish in double-digits.<\/p>\n

Juke Harris led Wake Forest with 16 points, Tre\u2019Von Spillers added 12 points and seven rebounds and Cooper Schwieger scored 10. The Demon Deacons shot 38% from the field and 6 of 30 from 3-point range after opening the game 4-for-4 from distance.<\/p>\n

The 19-point margin marked Virginia Tech\u2019s largest ACC victory since February 2024.<\/p>\n

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Up Next<\/h2>\n

Wake Forest: at Boston College on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech: at No. 16 North Carolina next Saturday.<\/p>\n

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a><\/span> and here<\/a><\/span> (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll<\/a><\/span> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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… scored 17 points and Virginia Tech<\/span> pulled away in the second … the second half, but Virginia Tech<\/span> answered with a decisive run … 19-point margin marked Virginia Tech<\/span>\u00e2\u0080\u0099s largest ACC victory since … Boston College on Tuesday. Virginia Tech<\/span>: at No. 16 North Carolina …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}