• Recap
• Bleachers

Kansas State defeats Virginia Tech in top-25 battle

Nov 17, 2010 - 8:17 AM Manhattan, KS (Sports Network) - Rodney McGruder finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, as third-ranked Kansas State defeated No. 22 Virginia Tech, 73-57, at Bramlage Coliseum.

Jacob Pullen and Jamar Samuels added 13 points apiece for Kansas State (2-0), which kicked off its 2010-11 campaign with a 75-61 win over James Madison on Friday. Jordan Henriquez-Roberts chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

"I was happy with our younger guys the other day against James Madison. Effort is not an issue with our team," Kansas State head coach Frank Martin said. "It is a matter of us staying focus on the task at hand and not having breakdowns. I told you guys before we went into last game that we were not very good and that we had not prepared very well, but we were the complete opposite the last three days."

Malcolm Delaney led all scorers with 22 points, but committed nine turnovers for Virginia Tech (1-1), which opened its season with a 70-60 victory over Campbell on Friday. Dorenzo Hudson netted 12 points in defeat.

With Virginia Tech down 30-29 after the opening 20 minutes, Delaney drained a three-pointer to begin the second half and put Virginia Tech in front. KSU quickly tied the game, which went back-and-forth for several minutes.

The Wildcats turned a two-point deficit into a six-point advantage with 11:17 remaining after Martavious Irving hit a three to cap an 8-0 run and give the hosts a 46-40 lead.

KSU stretched its advantage to 59-49 following a layup from Samuels with 5:16 on the clock. Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg was given a technical foul for arguing with officials on the play, and the Wildcats went up by as many as 19 en route to the victory.

"We got out rebounded and did not get to the ball, those were the main things," Delaney said. "I had some bad turnovers on my part. We did have some open looks but we just did not make them."

Each side had trouble shooting early, and the game was even at 16-16 near the midway point of the first half. Wally Judge and Henriquez-Roberts made jumpers sandwiched around a Nick Russell three-pointer to put Kansas State up 23-16 with 6:20 left in the half.

Virginia Tech responded with six unanswered points to make it a 23-22 game with nearly 4 1/2 minutes remaining before the Wildcats built their lead back up to six, 30-24, a short time later. The Hokies closed with five in a row and trailed by only a point heading into the locker room.

Game Notes

This was the first-ever meeting between these two programs on the hardwood...Irving ended with nine points for Kansas State, which made 40.6 percent from the field...Virginia Tech shot only 34.5 percent from the floor.