Lawal, Schutt carry Virginia Tech to 76-66 win over Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Tobi Lawal scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Jaden Schutt scored 16 points and Virginia Tech never trailed in beating Florida State 76-66 on Wednesday night.

Taylor Bol Bowen scored 14 points shooting 6 for 8 and finished a rebound shy of a double-double and reserve Jerry Deng scored 13 points for Florida State.

The two teams started with an exchange of baskets, and after Lawal made his second to give the Hokies a 4-2 they led the rest of the way. Rodney Brown Jr.’s layup with 9:54 before halftime made it 20-9. A little more than five minutes later, Ben Burnham threw down a dunk to push the margin to 25-11. Virginia Tech kept the pressure on with a 10-4 spurt to close the first half for a 35-15 lead.

Not until Bol Bowen’s 3-pointer two-and-a-half minutes into the second half did Florida State reach 20 points and trailed by 19.

Florida State staged a methodical rally in a little more seven minutes to get within 49-43 on a layup by Daquan Davis with 8:08 remaining. But Ben Hammond, Schutt and Lawal made 3s in succession to make it 58-45.

Alier Maluk’s dunk brought the Seminoles back with single digits for the last time at 61-52 with 4:09 left to play.

Virginia Tech (9-12, 4-6 ACC) travels to face Virginia on Saturday. Florida State (13-8, 4-6) travels to face Boston College on Saturday.

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