No. 10 Virginia Tech 81, Notre Dame 66
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Ty Outlaw hit the first three-pointer, and it became his turn to carry the No. 10 Virginia Tech Hokies in a game when four guys took turns.
"He fuels me and we feed off each other," Outlaw said of Ahmed Hill, who made consecutive baskets before Outlaw hit his first three-pointer, right in front of the Virginia Tech bench, in an 81-66 victory against Notre Dame on Tuesday.
"If one of us is going, we look at the other like, 'Hey, come on.' That's what we do," Outlaw said.
Outlaw hit 3 three-pointers in a 22-9 run that allowed the Hokies to pull away, then added a fourth after Notre Dame closed to within 71-60 with 3:51 to play. Earlier, Hill hit two three-pointers after the Fighting Irish closed to within 43-42 with about 15 minutes to play.
The red-hot shooting made it a low stress afternoon for point guard Justin Robinson, who scored just 7 points but had 8 assists, moving him past Jamon Gordon into third place in program history with 521. Gordon had 514 between 2003-2007.
"When you have four guys on the court with you that are not missing and they're making every shot, you know that you just have to hit them at the right time in the right spot or call a play that you know where they're tagging from and hit them," Robinson said.
Kerry Blackshear Jr. led the Hokies (12-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 21 points, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Hill scored 17 apiece, and Outlaw finished with 14. Virginia Tech led 49-44 before Alexander-Walker sparked the run with a pair of driving baskets, and Hill followed with two. Outlaw's trio of three-pointers and one from Blackshear pushed the margin back to 18. The Irish never got within 10 again.
"They're old, and they know who they are and they spread you out and make shots. Really, really good," Irish Coach Mike Brey said. "We're kind of a youth movement group playing against men today. We gave ourselves some chances a couple times. Just couldn't get over the hump on the road against a really good team. They made every big shot any time we kind of got within striking distance."
In the half, Virginia Tech was 20 for 28 (71.4 percent from the field) and made 8 of 9 tries from three-point range.
T.J. Gibbs scored 19 points, 13 in the second half, as Notre Dame (10-4, 0-1) had its four-game winning streak snapped. D.J. Harvey added 16 and Nate Laszewski had 14. The Fighting Irish made 13 three-pointers but needed 34 attempts and shot 41 percent overall (23 of 56).
The Irish hurt themselves with nine turnovers in the first half, all coming before Virginia Tech had its first with 3:24 left in the half. The Fighting Irish finished with 11 turnovers to seven for the Hokies.
The Hokies' ability to shoot from the three-point line -- they were 11 for 18 -- makes them a danger every time they take the floor, but it is their continuing attention to improved defense that stands out most this year. Virginia Tech has only allowed one opponent, then-No. 22 Purdue, to reach 70 points this season, and that came in an 88-83 Hokies' victory.
NO. 9 FLORIDA STATE 87, WINTHROP 76
Terance Mann scored 22 points and Phil Cofer added 14 on Tuesday, helping No. 9 Florida State hold off Winthrop for its seventh consecutive victory.
The Seminoles have opened with a 12-1 record for the fourth time in school history, matching their best start.
Mann shot 10 of 11 from the floor, scoring 14 second-half points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Cofer made four of his five shots in the first half but missed all of his shots in the second half.
Florida State was up 56-38 but Winthrop charged back to trail 63-61 with 11:50 left. The Seminoles were able to hold them off.
Adam Pickett scored 19 points, and Charles Falden added 15 for Winthrop (8-5), whose four-game winning streak ended.
Winthrop played without its top player, Nych Smith, and Bjorn Broman was limited to 14 minutes because of injury. Smith, a junior guard, is averaging a team-high 16 points this season but was out with an undisclosed injury.
ST. JOHN’S 89, NO. 16 MARQUETTE 69
NEW YORK — Shamorie Ponds scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half, dominating a highly anticipated matchup between two of the nation’s top guards, and St. John’s rebounded impressively from its first loss of the season by routing No. 16 Marquette on Tuesday night at Carnesecca Arena.
Marvin Clark II had 22 points and Mustapha Heron added all 16 of his after halftime for the Red Storm (13-1, 1-1 Big East), who snapped Marquette’s eight-game winning streak.
With leading scorer Markus Howard held to eight points on 2-of-15 shooting, the Golden Eagles (11-3, 0-1) got blown out in their conference opener. Howard entered averaging 25.1 points per game, best in the Big East and fifth in the country.
Joey Hauser had 15 points to lead Marquette, which went 6 for 21 from three-point range (28.6 percent).
Sports on 01/02/2019