BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Malcolm Delaney helped Virginia Tech finally put away a ranked team.
He had 28 points and a career-high nine assists, and Virginia Tech raced out to a 35-point lead in the first half on the way to an 81-66 victory against No. 23 Miami on Wednesday night.
Terrell Bell scored all of his career-best 13 points in the first half for the Hokies (13-2, 1-1 ACC), who snapped a five-game losing streak to ranked teams that dated to last season. Virginia Tech went up 11-2 and then put the game away with a 35-8 run that spanned nearly 13 minutes of the first half.
"It's so important to win this game because you have to win your home games in the league," Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. "And it was so important to win this game so that we had no self-doubt. We are a good team, but this league, I'm not sure anyone is Kansas or Texas. Everyone, though, is really good."
Bell hit a 3-pointer with 2:43 to go and added a basket with 2:16 remaining to give the Hokies their biggest lead, 48-13. The Hokies shot 62 percent (18 for 29) in the first half and led 50-23 at the break.
"It doesn't hurt when you make seven of your first nine 3s," Greenberg said. "We had some guys who made some shots. You're a whole lot smarter when you make shots. When you make shots, you're a good coach. When you don't make shots, you're a bad coach."
Delaney, the ACC's leading scorer at better than 20 points per game, connected on 6 of 14 from the floor but made 14 of 16 from the free-throw line.
Miami (15-2, 1-2) shot 27 percent in the first half (7 of 26) and had its seven-game winning streak snapped. The ACC's leader in 3-pointers made coming into the game (140) missed its first eight attempts from beyond the arc. The Hurricanes were 6 for 27 on 3s for the game.
"They shot the ball way better from the perimeter than I thought they would," Miami head coach Frank Haith said. "They played very well and we didn't play very well."
Bell, who had scored in double figures only once this season, went 5 for 6 from the floor. He had never hit more than one 3-pointer in a game in his career, but connected on all three of his attempts -- all in the first half.
Jeff Allen added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hokies, while Dorenzo Hudson had 11 points.
The Hurricanes had only one player in double figures. James Dews led Miami with 11 points.
