Ben Hammond and Virginia Tech recovered from a 19-point deficit on Saturday. (Jon Fleming)

It took overtime, but Virginia Tech rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat Elon 82-81 on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg.

“We just had to find a way to win,” Tech head coach Mike Young said. “I knew going in that they were good. I was nervous about it, and I’m proud of our team. Find ourselves down 19, we can’t get anything going. Cutting it to eight was significant, and inch by inch.”

The Hokies (11-2) were lackadaisical from the jump and fell in a giant hole when the Phoenix (7-5) made its sixth and seventh 3-pointers of the day to spark a 12-0 run and push the margin to 35-16 with 6:51 in the first half.

Without Tobi Lawal (lower body), Neoklis Avdalas (illness) and Antonio Dorn (back), Tech slowly righted the ship, and an 11-0 run to end the half, sparked by Christian Gurdak, made it an eight-point deficit at intermission, 43-35.

“After 12 minutes, I felt like they were just getting anything they wanted,” Hokies forward Amani Hansberry said. “We weren’t really making it hard for them, putting pressure on them defensively.”

After a Bryson Cokley trey put Elon up 12 six minutes into the second half, the Hokies knocked down three straight triples — one from Ben Hammond, two from Jaden Schutt — to force a timeout. Once a Hansberry layup cut the deficit to one, the largest lead for the rest of the game was four points.

It wasn’t until Hansberry’s and-one layup with 5:25 left in regulation that Tech led, though — 34:35 into the game.

“Come out ready to go,” Hansberry said on what the Hokies learned. “Don’t be stagnant just because we’re playing Elon, just because they’re in the CAA. That’s a pretty good team. Our preparation was OK, was on par with the George Mason preparation, and you saw how that game went, but I think there’s another level we have to take, especially going into ACC play.”

Hammond followed up that Hansberry play with an and-one opportunity of his own, but the Phoenix stormed back.

After ties at 68, 70 and 72 points, the latter of which came on a Hansberry basket with 28 seconds to play, Elon had one final look at the horn, but Kacper Klaczek missed a baseline jumper, sending the game to overtime.

Hansberry, who posted game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (14), good for his fifth double-double on the year, fouled out with 3:51 remaining in overtime. Tech lost Tyler Johnson, too, due to an apparent ankle injury just over a minute later.

Amani Hansberry was the best player on the floor for the Hokies vs. Elon. (Jon Fleming)

That meant the Hokies’ lineup in the waning moments featured Hammond (So.), Jaden Schutt (r-Jr.), Izaiah Pasha (So.), Sin’Cere Jones (Fr.) and Christian Gurdak (Fr.) — and the group got the job done.

“Y’all don’t have anything to lose,” Hansberry said on his message to the group down the stretch. “Just play hard. It’s basketball at the end of the day, y’all have been playing it all of your lives. Just don’t overcomplicate it, leave it all out there.”

After Elon’s DeMarco Johnson dribbled past Hammond, got to the rim and finished with a layup with 25 seconds left, Hammond came down the floor and found Gurdak underneath for the game-winning basket with 10 seconds to play.

The Phoenix had one final opportunity after Pasha missed two free throws, but Bryson Cokley’s 3-point look at the buzzer — despite Elon begging for a foul call — was off target.

“They didn’t feel us at all in the first 10 minutes, 12 minutes,” Young said, “but they certainly felt us in the overtime period, in the second half.”

It was a wild ending to a game that saw the Hokies trail by 19 points, recover and close things out without any of their typical starting five — Avdalas, Jailen Bedford, Johnson, Lawal and Hansberry.

“They weren’t going away,” Gurdak said. “That’s one of the harder games I’ve played just because they kept fighting back, didn’t let up. But that was an emotional and physical win for us. That kind of shows what team we are, we’re not going to give up, and especially when we get some of our guys back, it’s going to be a whole lot easier for us.”

It’s the Hokies’ largest comeback victory since they rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat West Virginia on Nov. 12, 2013.

They were sloppy out of the gates and allowed the Phoenix to build up a head of steam. While they got off to a slow offensive start, making just three of its first 11 field goals, Elon found a rhythm and made six of its first eight.

Tech’s defense vastly improved after the first half. The Phoenix was 17-for-32 (53.1%) over the first 20 minutes and made seven of its 17 3-point attempts (41.2%). However, it was only 14-for-38 (36.8%) from the floor after that and just 3-for-13 from deep (23.1%).

“They weren’t only playing really well, but they only missed 15 shots, and eight of those 15 misses back,” Hansberry said of Elon’s first half. “We had to eliminate their offensive rebounding, which I thought we did pretty well in the second half, and they just flat out were playing harder than us.

“We were very emotional in a timeout to let guys know that we could play harder, they’re punking us, we can’t go out like that on our home floor. And you saw the response. Nobody takes anything personal. When we are in between those lines, it’s about us, what we’ve got to do to win, so I’m just proud of the guys today. They didn’t take anything personal, they didn’t hang their heads.”

Izaiah Pasha, Sin'Cere Jones and the Hokies got stops when they needed them. (Jon Fleming)

Chandler Cuthrell, the Phoenix’s leading scorer who entered the day ranked top 10 in Division I in fouls drawn per 40 minutes and had attempted 94 free throws, had just two and was 4-for-4 against Tech. He finished with 18 points.

Isaac Harrell was 4-for-4 from the outside and had 16 points and nine boards for Elon while Klaczek recorded 11 points and five rebounds. It used 10 different players, all of whom scored.

“It’s amazing what happens when you pressure the ball and you play with high hands and you’re there on the catch,” Young said of Tech’s second-half defense. “You put them in duress and they’re not as comfortable and that ball’s not moving from side to side. That’s what they all did collectively in the second half.”

Meanwhile, the Hokies had five double-figure scorers, led by Hansberry. Gurdak posted a career-high 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including a 5-for-7 mark from the foul line, while Hammond had 15 points to accompany three assists, two rebounds and two steals in 44 minutes.

Pasha was clutch again off the bench for Tech, adding 11 points, courtesy of going 5-for-8 from the stripe, and three assists, two rebounds and two blocks. Schutt also made two 3-pointers and chipped in 10 points, three assists and three boards.

“Neo was complaining about not feeling great yesterday, but gosh, come to shootaround this morning and he can’t do it,” Young said. “Saw our team doctor and was sick and sent him home, he wasn’t in the building. Dorn’s got his back that is making progress, or so it appears. Tobi’s getting closer. We’ve just got a lot of stuff going on. Hansberry fouls, Tyler Johnson has a foot injury there in the overtime period.

“But Izaiah Pasha had an opportunity to play and help our team win, and that he did. Christian Gurdak, thrust into a very prominent role, helped our team win. Christian played 28 minutes, grabbed six rebounds. Ben Hammond is terrific, Tyler Johnson did a really, really nice job.”

The Hokies finished non-conference play with an 11-2 record, tying their best mark through 13 games under Young, joining the 2020-21 and 2022-23 squads. They’re six wins better than they were at this point last season, too.

A ranked Virginia squad (10-1) awaits after Christmas break and kicks off conference play on New Year’s Eve. Three of Tech’s first four league games are at home, with Stanford and Cal visiting after a trip to Wake Forest.

“I think we come out of it in pretty good shape,” Young said of non-conference play. “Wish we could’ve played better against Saint Mary’s and VCU. We’re in position to be in position, let’s put it that way.”

Box Score: Virginia Tech 82, Elon 81 (OT)