Charlottesville, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Malcolm Brogdon had 19 points and eight rebounds as No. 2 Virginia defeated Virginia Tech 69-57 on Saturday afternoon.
Darion Atkins posted 16 points and six rebounds, while Anthony Gill added 16 points and five boards for the Cavaliers (27-1, 15-1 ACC), who have won eight straight and are a win away from clinching their first ever back-to-back outright ACC titles.
"We had our sights on trying to at least be good in the conference season and see if we could do it again, and we at least got a piece of that, we've got a couple more games to try to get something out-right," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said.
Point guard London Perrantes, who tallied 11 points and six assists, returned from a brief one-game absence for Virginia following a scary collision with Brogdon against Florida State on Sunday.
Adam Smith netted 19 points to lead the Hokies (10-19, 2-14).
"There are a lot of threats they pose defensively and fifty-seven points is a lot of points versus Virginia. They're arguably the best defensive half-court team in the country," Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said.
Virginia began to pull away during the early stages of the second half with an 11-0 run.
Consecutive Virginia Tech baskets by Christian Beyer and Smith cut the Hokies' deficit to 35-33, but Perrantes jumpstarted UVa's surge with a 3-pointer and Brogdon capped it with a layup for a 46-33 cushion with 12:41 remaining.
The Hokies trimmed the gap to 50-46 with 7:32 to play following a pair of Satchel Pierce free throws, but the Cavaliers netted the next 12 points to put the game away.
An Atkins jumper concluded the burst and extended the margin to 62-46 with 3:35 left.
Earlier, Virginia Tech raced out to an 11-4 start before UVa put in the next seven to tie it. It remained close for the duration of the opening half and the Cavaliers led 28-24 at the break.
Game Notes
The Cavaliers have beaten the Hokies seven straight times ... Virginia Tech is 0-17 against ranked foes since a victory over No. 15 Oklahoma State on Dec. 1, 2012 ... Virginia shot 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the floor and hit 6-of-13 from beyond the arc.
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