Sean Pedulla had 17 points and seven assists to lead slow-starting Virginia Tech to a 74-58 victory over in-state foe Richmond in the NIT opener on Tuesday in Blacksburg, Virginia. Lynn Kidd had 20 points and eight rebounds, twice off feeds from Pedulla in the final four minutes as the third-seeded Hokies (19-14) advanced to the Round of 16 against second-seeded Ohio State on Saturday. He made a powerful slam dunk. MJ Collins made 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds for the Hokies, who missed 15 of their first 16 shots and bounced back from a nine-point deficit. Virginia Tech shot on target the rest of the game, ultimately shooting 48.1 percent from the floor and making seven of its last 10 shots from deep. Kidd made 9 of 10 from the floor and all of his field goals came from inside the paint. Isaiah Bigelow had 15 points and seven rebounds for Atlantic 10 regular-season co-champion Richmond (23-10), which ended its season with three straight losses. Dji Bailey added his 15 points for the Spiders, but they were unable to capitalize on valuable opportunities against the state's best conference schools. It was the 109th meeting between the two schools, but the first since 2009. The Hokies held A-10 co-player of the year Jordan King scoreless in the first half. King scored six points on 2-of-9 shooting in his final college game. After a disastrous start, Virginia Tech made 13 of its next 16 shots. The Hokies finished the first half on a 20-6 run that included 3-pointers from Hunter Kattoa and Collins and three inside baskets from Mairijael Poteet, increasing their lead to 33-28 at halftime. Early in the second half, Kidd bolted into the basket with a two-fisted slam, giving Virginia Tech a seven-point lead. However, the Spiders used full-court pressure to disrupt the Hokies' offense and fought back with a six-point run to take the lead 39-36. Virginia Tech took control late, with Collins hitting two treys in a span of 1 minute, 31 seconds to give the Hokies a nine-point lead. Kattore hit another trey and he extended his advantage to 64-52 with 4:52 left. –Field level media
