Avdalas leads big second half in Virginia Tech's 82-53 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore

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BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Neoklis Avdalas scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half when Virginia Tech outscored Maryland-Eastern Shore by 20 to pull away for an 82-53 win on Sunday.

Avdalas added seven assists. Christian Gurdak had 13 points and eight rebounds, Tyler Johnson added 12 points as did Amani Hansberry, who also had nine rebounds. Ben Hammond scored 10 points for the Hokies (10-2), who won their fourth consecutive game and are 7-0 at home.

Dorion Staples and Christopher Flippin scored seven points each to lead UMES (4-11), which has lost five straight.

Avdalas scored seven points and Gurdak six over the first eight minutes of the second half when the Hokies went in front by double figures for good, leading 55-39 by the 12-minute media timeout. A 15-1 run over four minutes had the Hokies up by 26 with five minutes left.

There were five ties and two lead changes in the first half until Virginia Tech took the lead for good on a Gurdak bucket with under nine minutes left. The Hokies outscored the Hawks 12-5 over the final five minutes including five from Johnson to take a 38-29 lead.

Virginia Tech shot 54% and made 11 of 24 from the arc. The Hawks shot 37%.

Maryland-Eastern Shore is at Wagner on Wednesday.

Virginia Tech is home against Elon on Saturday.

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