Blacksburg, Va. – Redshirt junior Marcus Kell tallied a team-best 21 points, but Western Carolina men's basketball continued a challenging three-game road swing to conclude nonconference play with a 96-74 defeat Thursday night against ACC foe Virginia Tech at the Cassell Coliseum.

Kell connected on 7-of-12 field goals, including a pair of threes, to pace the Catamounts as one of two to finish in double figures. Sophomore transfer Justin Johnson poured in a season-high 16 points off the bench, including a 4-of-7 performance from the floor, burying his lone three and 7-of-11 at the free-throw line.

Graduate transfer Julien Soumaoro added nine points to go along with a team-high four assists, while freshman post Samuel Dada led WCU on the glass with seven rebounds. Graduate transfer Tidjiane Dioumassi joined Soumaoro with a team-best four assists as Dioumassi and Johnson both had a pair of steals.

Neoklis Avdalas paced Virginia Tech (9-2) with a game-high 30 points as he buried 10-of-17 field goals, including 4-of-8 from deep, and made 6-of-8 free throws. Amani Hansberry scored 19 points and six rebounds, while leading the squad with six assists and four steals. Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond both had 13 points, while Jaden Schutt rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points. Christian Gurdak finished with a team-best seven boards, while a trio of Hokies had a pair of blocks each.

Winners of three-straight, the Hokies started fast with a quick 7-2 burst, before a CJ Hyland 3-pointer closed the Catamounts to within a bucket in the opening moments of Thursday's meeting, the first between the two teams since 2013. The Hokies then scored nine straight points to stretch the lead to 11, 16-5, just six minutes into the opening half.

Cord Stansberry connected on a three with 12:38 to play, cutting the deficit to nine, 18-9, before Virginia Tech responded with a 10-3 spurt to stretch the lead to 16, 28-12 with 8:24 remaining before the half. The two teams traded blows down the stretch of the final seven minutes, with neither team able to gain more than a four-point burst, with Virginia Tech carrying a 53-34 lead into intermission.

The Hokies stormed out of the halftime locker room with an 11-5 burst to stretch the lead to 25, 64-39, before the Catamounts put together their best stretch of the night. Seven straight points from the Catamounts, courtesy of Kell and Johnson, cut the Hokies' lead to 18, 64-46. The Purple & Gold quickly cut the deficit to 16 on two occasions but were unable to get any closer, as the hosts held on down the stretch for the 96-74 win.

Western Carolina shot 42.1 (24-of-57) percent from the floor as the Catamounts buried eight 3-pointers at a 40% clip, and made 18-of-30 at the free throw line. Virginia Tech shot 53.1 percent (34-of-64) from the field, connecting 19-of-33 (57.6%) shots in the opening half. The Hokies buried 13 threes at a 48.1% rate, while making 15-of-23 at the charity stripe.

Virginia Tech won a tight rebounding battle by two, 36-34, as the guests had a 15-11 edge in offensive boards compared to a 25-19 advantage on the defensive glass for VT. The hosts had a 36-26 advantage in paint scoring, while WCU led 31-26 in bench scoring, as the Catamounts scored nine points off 11 Hokie turnovers, compared to nine points off 14 WCU giveaways.  

Western Carolina (4-6) closes out its nonconference slate with a trip to Athens, Ga., on Thursday, Dec. 18, with a battle against SEC counterpart Georgia. The Bulldogs were receiving votes in both the Associated Press (AP) and NCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Poll in the most recent release on Monday. Thursday's game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be shown on SEC Network Plus (paid subscription required), with live audio from the Catamount Sports Network, and live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.

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