Hunter Cattoor scored 27 points, which came off nine made three-pointers, and led Virginia Tech to an 85-72 victory over host Florida State on Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla.
Cattoor led an impressive three-point shooting barrage by the Hokies (11-10, 3-7 ACC), who buried 18 of the 25 three-point attempts they took in order to snap a three-game losing streak. Virginia Tech shot a staggering 61.5 percent (32 for 52) from the field overall.
The Seminoles (13-7, 6-4) dropped their second consecutive game to a last-place team in the conference.
Florida State played short-handed, however, as it started three freshmen — Matthew Cleveland, Jalen Warley and John Butler — for the first time in coach Leonard Hamilton’s 20-year tenure as the Seminoles’ coach.
Florida State played without starters Malik Osborne, who was shut down for the remainder of the season and is set to undergo ankle surgery, and RayQuan Evans (bronchitis). Caleb Mills, who was also dealing with bronchitis, played only three minutes in the first half and did not score.
Cleveland had the best game among the group as he totaled 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Seminoles also did a solid job defensively against Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech’s leading scorer, who finished with only four points and picked up his fourth foul with 11:25 left in the game.
But one of Virginia Tech’s own freshmen, Sean Pedulla, stepped up and scored 20 points for the Hokies. Justyn Mutts also had 10 points and five rebounds.
The Hokies put together an 11-0 run late in the first half and led 39-31 at the break. The Seminoles opened the second half on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 42.
But leading 62-60 with 7:25 left in the second half, Cattoor hit four 3-pointers during a 14-0 run to help the Hokies pull away.
Anthony Polite led Florida State with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists while Naheem McLeod went a perfect 7-for-7 from the field to finish with 15 points.
–Field Level Media
