Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Victor Davila (center) watches the basketball go out of bounds, as Virginia's Assane Sene (5) trails the play. Go to roanoke.com for a photo slideshow from Saturday's game.

Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia's Sylven Landesberg (left) grabs a rebound away from Virginia Tech's Hank Thorns (10) and Jeff Allen during the second half.

Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo (40) and Cheick Diakite signal Hokies' possession following a Virginia turnover during the second half. Virginia Tech defeated Virginia 78-75.

Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Terrell Bell (1) chases down a tipped ball in front of Virginia's Sylven Landsberg on Saturday.

BLACKSBURG -- Coming off a woeful outing at Duke, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was determined not to fall into an 0-2 hole in the ACC.

A.D. Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney made sure that didn't happen.

Vassallo scored 29 points and Delaney poured in 24 to help the Hokies fend off Virginia 78-75 on Saturday at Cassell Coliseum.

"Now I don't got to worry about Duke no more," said Vassallo, who scored all 14 of his second-half points in the final 5:23. "It was hard, thinking about it every day.

"This game, it was a must-win, period. We had to win it."

Tech (10-5, 1-1) led throughout the second half after scoring almost as many points in the first half (40) as it did in its entire 69-44 loss at Duke last Sunday.

"We had a good week of practice. Everybody was more dedicated to the team," Delaney said. "We're starting to come together.

"We did a lot of extra shooting this week. It all carried over from practice."

Tech beat the Cavaliers (7-6, 1-1) for the third straight time, its longest winning streak in the series since winning four in a row from March 1967 to February 1969.

"Well, everybody hates them down here, so I guess we've got to beat them," Vassallo said with a smile. "I wish now we can beat N.C. State [which has beaten Tech six straight times]."

The Hokies weren't happy with their effort in the second half at Duke, when they mustered just 13 second-half points. But in the second half Saturday, they answered UVa's runs.

"We can't take punches and not give them back," Delaney said. "Today, every time they did something, we came right back at them. It all started on the defensive end. We got out in transition."

Delaney had five points in a 7-0 run that extended Tech's lead to 49-41 with 13:33 to go.

"We didn't do a really good job at keeping him out of the middle of the floor, either in pick-and-roll or just straight drives or coming off screens," UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "He's become in a very short period of time a really, really good player. He's got a [shooting] guard's mentality and a point guard's game."

Delaney, a sophomore point guard, averaged 9.6 points last season but is averaging 16.9 points this year.

"I'm just more aggressive this year," he said. "I do a lot more in transition and attacking the basket."

With Tech up 51-47, Delaney and Vassallo combined for seven points in a 13-2 run that extended the lead to 64-49 with 5:23 left. The run included a Delaney dunk after one of UVa's 17 turnovers in the game. Vassallo capped the run with a basket and free throw after another UVa turnover -- his first points of the half.

With UVa down 66-51 with 4:56 to go, Mustapha Farrakhan (17 points) sparked a Cavalier rally with four 3-pointers and sank three free throws to cut the deficit to 72-70 with 49.7 seconds remaining.

"The guy made some killer shots," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.

With about four seconds left on the shot clock, Vassallo spun away from Mamadi Diane and sank a jumper to extend the lead to 74-70 with 18.3 left.

Vassallo, who had just seven points at Duke, scored 14 of Tech's final 17 points Saturday.

"A the beginning of the game, ... we allowed him to feel comfortable," Leitao said. "If we had done a better job of taking space away and making him feel uncomfortable, then the later stages in the game, you're either going to wear him down a little bit or make him not make those kind of shots."

Sylven Landesberg answered with a layup, but Vassallo made two free throws for a 76-72 lead with 9.3 seconds left. After Jamil Tucker sank a 3-pointer, Vassallo made two more free throws to extend the lead to 78-75 with 1.9 seconds to go.

Landesberg had 20 points.

"And he didn't shoot one pull-up jumper," Greenberg said. "You're not going to stop him."

Jeff Allen had his third straight poor game offensively, going 0-of-7 from the field. But Tech got good play from reserves Terrell Bell, Lewis Witcher and Cheick Diakite.

Virginia MP FG FT R A F PT

Scott 26 7-10 1-4 6 0 3 16

Sene 25 3-5 0-0 8 0 5 6

Zeglinski 31 2-7 0-2 2 8 2 4

Landesberg 38 7-11 6-6 8 5 1 20

Diane 25 2-5 0-0 2 0 1 4

Farrakhan 12 5-7 3-3 0 0 5 17

Baker 18 1-1 0-0 1 2 1 3

Tucker 18 2-8 0-0 2 0 4 5

Soroye 3 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0

Meyinsse 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Totals 200 29-55 10-15 33 15 23 75

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Allen 23 0-7 3-5 6 2 3 3

Davila 15 3-7 0-0 2 0 2 6

Thompson 17 0-2 0-0 0 1 2 0

Vassallo 40 9-14 10-12 7 3 1 29

Delaney 37 10-17 1-3 4 2 3 24

Bell 23 2-5 0-0 3 3 1 5

Hudson 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0

Thorns 10 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0

Witcher 11 2-5 2-2 3 0 1 6

Diakite 22 2-5 1-3 5 0 1 5

Totals 200 28-63 17-25 32 12 15 78

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Virginia 33 42 -- 75

Virginia Tech 40 38 -- 78

3-point goals: UVa 7-17 (Farrakhan 4-5, Tucker 1-4, Scott 1-1, Baker 1-1, Zeglinski 0-4, Diane 0-2), VT 5-10 (Delaney 3-6, Vassallo 1-2, Bell 1-1, Thorns 0-1.

Turnovers: UVa 17 (Landesberg 6), VT 11 (Thompson 3).

Blocks: UVa 10 (Sene 4), VT 3 (Allen, Vassallo, Diakite).

Steals: UVa 3 (Landesberg, Diane, Meyinsse), VT 7 (Thompson, Delaney 2).

Officials: Hess, Natili, Maxwell. Attendance: 9,847.