ACC Tournament: Miami holds off Va. Tech

Published 12:18 am Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Associated Press

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Sheldon McClellan scored 16 points and Miami beat Virginia Tech 59-49 on Wednesday night in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Davon Reed added 10 points and hit an important 3-pointer with about 5 minutes left that helped the sixth-seeded Hurricanes (21-11) avoid a loss that would have been catastrophic to their NCAA tournament hopes.

The Hurricanes will face No. 11 Notre Dame (26-5) inthe quarterfinals Thursday.

Adam Smith and Ahmed Hill each scored 10 points for the 14th-seeded Hokies (11-22), who gave the Hurricanes all they could handle. Miami never led by double figures until the final minute.

Smith’s 3 with 55.6 seconds left made it a two-possession game. McClellan followed with two free throws, Justin Bibbs turned it over for Virginia Tech and Manu Lecomte added two foul shots with 36.3 seconds left to essentially seal the victory.

The Hurricanes could not afford to lose this one with their road win over No. 2 Duke offset by losses to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

Smith pulled the Hokies to 44-43 with his layup with 5½ minutes left. Reed followed by swishing a 3, Lecomte hit two free throws and Deandre Bennett added a 3 to push the lead to 52-45 with 2 minutes left.

Virginia Tech took its only lead of the second half when Jalen Hudson’s across-the-lane drive made it 38-37 with just under 9 minutes left.

Hudson, who scored a season-best 32 points in a victory over Wake Forest one day earlier, finished with five on 2-of-7 shooting.