Ben Hammond made some crucial plays for Virginia Tech at the rim when it mattered most. (Tim Cowie Photography)

COLUMBIA, S.C. — It took overtime, but Virginia Tech fended off South Carolina 86-83 in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday night in Colonial Life Arena.

“We move to 7-2 after two really disappointing losses in the Bahamas at Battle 4 Atlantis, but feel good about this one,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “But man, we need to get back and rest up tomorrow and prepare, practice and get better. We’ve got a long way to go.”

The Hokies (7-2) got back on track after defeats to Saint Mary’s and VCU in Battle 4 Atlantis with a gutsy performance against the Gamecocks (5-3). It’s their first win in the three-year-old ACC/SEC Challenge after defeats at Auburn and vs. Vanderbilt in the last two iterations.

Tech did it without forward Tobi Lawal, who has missed the last three games with a left foot injury. He was in a boot and used crutches while in sweats on the bench, and Young said the senior will be “on the shelf for a bit.”

“It’s a lower-body injury and it’s going to be a bit,” Young said. “I don’t know two weeks, I don’t know a month, I don’t know six weeks. We’ll know more as we go along, but it’s not going to be a quick turnaround, but he’s healthy, could’ve been a lot worse, and he’s getting excellent care with our medical team, so he’ll be fine.”

That’s a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double machine the Hokies are missing in Lawal, but they still looked OK on the glass against the Gamecocks, outrebounding them 37-28, including a 21-9 first-half margin.

However, foul trouble highlighted Lawal’s absence. Tyler Johnson, Neoklis Avdalas and Amani Hansberry all picked up two first-half personals and dealt with foul trouble. Johnson and Avdalas both eventually fouled out — the former with 2:58 left in regulation and the latter with 1:34 remaining in overtime.

Tech’s lineups looked different as a result, specifically including 7-foot German center Antonio Dorn. Before Tuesday, he hadn’t played more than 13 minutes this season, which he accomplished twice. Against the Gamecocks, he gave the Hokies 31 minutes. Hansberry said Dorn is “stepping into his role outrageously well.”

“Dorn made some mistakes. They all made some mistakes, that’s part of the game,” Young said. “But I thought all in all, they really gave us a lift. … Dorn has eight points, two rebounds. Amani Hansberry has 14 rebounds. Christian Gurdak helped us, Sin’Cere Jones came in, six minutes in the first half and helped us. We’ve got the makings of a good team, we’re not there yet. We’ll get there, though.”

They were solid minutes, too. Dorn finished with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting to go with two rebounds and two assists, and he made some key plays, none bigger than his seal of the lane on Ben Hammond’s take to the rim for the game-winning layup with 13 seconds to play — colloquially known as a Marcin Gortat screen.

“The shot clock was running down, so I was just trying to make a play,” Hammond said. “I saw an open lane, Dorn was sealing, we work on that a lot, the Gortat screen. ... He did that and executed well.”

Hammond was terrific late for Tech, scoring six points in the second half — two important 3-pointers — and six points in overtime on his way to 16. Though his shooting percentages are down — from 42 percent to 38 overall and 50 percent to 29 from three — his points, assists and steals are up from his freshman season.

“Plays really hard,” Young said of Hammond. “His shooting numbers are down a little bit, but his impact on the game is not down. He’s impacting the game very, very well. Was 5-for-9 tonight, those are Ben Hammond numbers.”

The same can be said for Hansberry, who finished with a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double on 10-for-16 shooting to accompany three assists and two blocks — despite his 2-for-8 mark from the foul line. He carried the Hokies early, scoring 13 in the first half.

More than anything, though, Tech handled adversity well. Johnson didn’t have his best night with zero points, three assists and just one board, but Avdalas made some plays on his way to 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He scored the team’s first four points in overtime and ran an effective pick-and-roll time and time again with Hansberry.

Amani Hansberry and the Hokies took advantage of some weak pick-and-roll defense from the Gamecocks. (Tim Cowie Photography)

“They were struggling with switches, they didn’t really know what they wanted to do with that,” Hansberry said. “We were able to pick them apart once we noticed it. Just trusting each other, giving up the ball, trusting we’re going to get it back. Trust is the biggest part of this game.”

Tech had to survive without Johnson and Avdalas in some crucial moments, though. In them, Young turned to Hammond, Jaden Schutt (12 points), Jailen Bedford (nine points, six rebounds), Hansberry and Dorn.

“Just staying together through the tough moments,” Hansberry said. “We faced some adversity, going 1-2 in the Bahamas, so we just wanted to make it about us, beat a better team and overall, just come out with the win and prove everybody else wrong.”

The Hokies also had to hold their breath. The contest that didn’t feature a basket in the final 2:43 of regulation as the squads combined for six missed shots, two missed free throws and two turnovers over that stretch.

That included poor execution from the Gamecocks after a miss from Avdalas with 19 seconds on the clock. Kobe Knox grabbed the rebound and South Carolina brought it up slowly, but it failed to get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Tech simply made more of its late-game opportunities.

“Just our fight, our togetherness,” Hammond said. “A team has to be together to go down the stretch, basket after basket. … We were able to get it done.”

The Hokies had one of their best shooting performances of the year, hitting a 50 percent clip from the field, though they made just six of their 20 3-pointers. (They were 27-for-46 on 2-point shots, good for 58.7%.)

The Gamecocks were slightly worse from the floor at 45 percent (27-for-60) but hit two more threes (8-for-30, 26.7%). The biggest difference was their performance on the foul line, where they converted as many free throws (21-for-28, 75%) as Tech attempted (14-for-21, 66.7%).

Fifteen of those made foul shots came in the second half and helped keep South Carolina in the game despite it making just 39 percent of its looks.

VT led for 34:53 and by as many as 10 points in the first half, but USC pulled within 37-34 at halftime and eventually swung the pendulum in its direction at the under-four media timeout in the second half.

It felt like the home side had the momentum to pull away, but Hansberry’s layup with 2:43 left knotted things at 70 — the final score at the end of regulation — and the Hokies had one more punch than the Gamecocks did in overtime, courtesy of Hammond’s layup.

“Very satisfying, but then again, the job’s not done,” Hansberry said.

It marked Tech’s first road win against an SEC program since Dec. 2, 2017, when it beat Ole Miss 83-80 in overtime in Oxford.

After playing four games away from Cassell Coliseum, the Hokies are back in Blacksburg on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET when they host undefeated George Mason (9-0). It’s just the third meeting with the Patriots and the first since the 1991-92 season.

Box Score: Virginia Tech 86, South Carolina 83 (OT)