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Virginia Tech’s Justyn Mutts (25) shoots while guarded by Lehigh’s Keith Higgins Jr. (13) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, in Blacksburg, Va. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP)
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Virginia Tech’s Justyn Mutts (25) shoots while guarded by Lehigh’s Keith Higgins Jr. (13) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, in Blacksburg, Va. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP)
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Sean Pedulla scored a career-high 20 points, Justyn Mutts had 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and Virginia Tech beat Lehigh 78-52 on Thursday night.
Virginia Tech scored the opening nine points of the game, all by Mutts and Grant Basile, as Lehigh missed its first five shots. Pedulla made Virginia Tech’s third 3-pointer of the first half to extend the lead to 43-25. Pedulla had a game-high 16 points in the half and Mutts added 12.
The Hokies closed the game on a 12-4 run for their largest lead of 26.
Basile added 11 points and eight rebounds for Virginia Tech (2-0). Mutts, who was unavailable in the opener because of an NCAA-mandated one-game suspension, was 6 of 8 from the field but just 3 of 7 at the stripe.
Basile, a 6-foot-9 transfer from Wright State, had 30 points and 10 rebounds in Virginia Tech’s opening 95-57 win over Delaware State. He averaged 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds last season as Wright State won the Horizon League championship.
Jakob Alamudun scored 14 points for Lehigh (0-2), which was coming off a loss to Syracuse. Dominic Parolin added 10 points.
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