Virginia Tech beats Colorado State 66-64 to move into the winner’s bracket at Battle 4 Atlantis

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Jailen Bedford scored 17 points, Tyler Johnson had 12 rebounds to go with nine points and Virginia Tech beat Colorado State 66-64 on Wednesday night to move into the winner’s bracket at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Virginia Tech led the entire second half, but Colorado State got within 51-50 with 6:30 remaining. Ben Hammond answered with a 3-pointer and on the Hokies’ next possession, Neoklis Avdalas made a jumper from the corner with his foot on the 3-point line for a 56-50 lead.

Bedford made layups on back-to-back possessions, sandwiched around a Colorado State miss from 3-point range, to take a 64-59 lead.

Colorado State guard Jevin Muniz sank a 3-pointer from the wing with 24.8 left to cut the deficit to 66-64. Bedford missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at 16.3 and Colorado State secured the rebound without a timeout. Josh Pascarelli had a good look from 3-point range in the closing seconds, but it hit off the back of the rim and Amani Hansberry secured the rebound at the buzzer.

Avdalas added 13 points and Hansberry scored 10 for Virginia Tech (6-0)

Carey Booth scored 15 points for Colorado State (4-2). Rashaan Mbemba added 12 points and Kyle Jorgensen had 11 points and nine rebounds. Colorado State, which entered ranked fourth in the nation by shooting 45% from 3-point range, went 4 of 19 behind the arc.

Virginia Tech led 33-26 at halftime after holding CSU to 38% shooting, including 2 of 10 from 3-point range. The Hokies only made two field goals in the opening nine minutes of the second half — both from 3-point range — but still led 43-38.

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