ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Virginia Tech (2-0) forced the Navy (1-1) men's basketball team into a 3-25 effort from three-point range in a 77-57 victory by the Hokies over the Mids, Friday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.  

The game was the second of a doubleheader as part of the eighth annual Veterans Classic.  Utah State defeated Richmond, 85-74, in the first game of the evening.

"I thought Virginia Tech was very, very good tonight,:" said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "I think they are a very good basketball team.  We knew that coming in from watching them last year.  I knew they were going to be very challenging for us.  They have great length, great post players, they have guys who can really shoot on the perimeter and they added a guy (Storm Murphy) who can really delivery the ball for everybody."

Navy scored on the first possession of the game, but Virginia Tech tallied the ensuing 11 points to take an early lead.  The Hokies would soon take leads of 17-4 and 22-6.  The Mids responded with a run of their own to winnow the margin down to 24-17.  Virginia Tech answered with a 9-0 run of to build a 33-20 advantage with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half.  The Hokies would eventually take a 45-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"We tried to prepare our guys for it," said DeChellis.  "We knew it was going to be a really physical game.  We knew it was going to be a game with a lot of energy and emotion.  We were a step behind everything they did.  We just couldn't guard them, and they just scored, scored, scored, and we never rally stopped them.  They just did what they wanted to do."

Navy shot a respectable 45.5 percent from the field on the first half.  But that 10-22 performance included a 2-11 (18.2%) showing from beyond the arc.  Conversely, Virginia Tech was 5-11 from long range as part of a 15-28 (53.6%) overall shooting effort in the first 20 minutes of the game.

The Mids drew to within 10 points at 49-39 with just under 14 minutes still to play.  However, the Hokies flipped the momentum as they went on an 11-0 run in less than three minutes to build a 60-39 cushion with 11:20 remaining on the clock.  The margin between the teams hovered between 16 and 21 points over the remainder of the game.  

Navy's struggles from beyond the arc continued in the second half as it was just 1-14 (7.1%) from long range.  While Navy was 3-25 (12.0%) from three-point land for the game, it also was 17-26 (65.4%) in its two-point attempts.  Virginia Tech shot 53.6 percent from the field in all, an effort that included an 8-19 (42.1%) performance from three-point range.

"Offensively for us," said DeChellis, "we didn't make any shots.  If you are going to take a shot at a team like that, you have to score the ball and make some open shots and we really didn't.  We had guys in foul trouble early, that got us sideways somewhat, but Virginia Tech is a good basketball team."

The Hokies also held a 35-29 advantage on the glass and scored 19 points off of 10 Navy turnovers while allowing the Mids to score 10 points following the nine turnovers committed by Virginia Tech.

Individually, Tyler Nelson (Jr., Monroe, N.C.) scored a career-high 15 points for Navy on 5-6 shooting from the field (1-2 in three-point attempts) and a 4-4 effort from the charity stripe.  Joining him in double figures were Daniel Deaver (Jr., Falls Church, Va.) and Greg Summers (Sr., Ocoee, Fla.) with 10 points each.

Navy will close its three-game opening stretch against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference Monday when the Mids play at Louisville.