Virginia Tech dropped another road game on Tuesday night at Syracuse, losing 84-71.
The Hokies (15-13, 7-10) have lost six of their last eight games and are 1-9 away from Cassell Coliseum. Against the Orange (19-10, 10-8), they struggled in the first half and let the game get away from them.
‘Cuse shot 61 percent (19-of-31) in the first 20 minutes while limiting Tech to a 39 percent clip (11-of-28). Its defense led to offense as it got out in transition and scored 11 fastbreak points.
It all went downhill for Tech in the final 11 minutes of the half. At that point, it was 13-all. The Orange outscored the Hokies 32-14 over the stretch that followed and pushed the margin to 45-27 at the break.
To Tech’s credit, it fought back in the second half and outscored Syracuse by five, 44-39, while shooting 57 percent (20-of-35). But ‘Cuse was 52 percent (15-of-29) and kept Tech at bay; the closest the Hokies drew was seven with 7:27 remaining. They cut the lead to single digits and were trailing by just eight with 3:42 left but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Judah Mintz led Syracuse with 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line while adding six assists, three rebounds and three steals. Whenever the Orange needed a basket, he came up clutch.
Mintz was surrounded by three double-figure scorers in J.J. Starling (13 points), Maliq Brown (12) and Quadir Copeland (12). That trio combined for 16 rebounds and 11 assists, too, with just four turnovers.
Sean Pedulla paced Virginia Tech with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting while adding four assists, four boards and two steals. Lynn Kidd added 16 points, made eight of his nine attempts and grabbed eight rebounds.
Hunter Cattoor scored 12 and had four assists while Mylyjael Poteat chipped in 11 — he was 5-of-6 — and six.
For the game, the Orange was 57 percent (34-of-60) from the field and 12-of-12 from the foul line. The Hokies were 31-of-63 (49%) and only attempted three free throws.
The Hokies missed 14 of their 20 3-point attempts as well. The only player to shoot 50 percent or better was Pedulla (2-of-4). Cattoor, MJ Collins and Tyler Nickel were a combined 4-of-15.
‘Cuse also outrebounded Tech by four, 31-27.
Virginia Tech has only won on the road once this season: at NC State on Jan. 20. It has three ACC regular-season games remaining: vs. Wake Forest on Saturday, at Louisville (March 5) and vs. Notre Dame (March 9).
Box Score: Syracuse 84, Virginia Tech 71