Northwestern gets road win over Virginia Tech in overtime

Northwestern let a nine-point halftime lead slip away over the game's final 20 minutes but got the better of Virginia Tech in overtime to grab an 81-79 road win on Tuesday night.

The Cats shot 56.7 percent from the field in the first half, holding the Hokies to just 36.4-percent shooting and getting 13 points from Tre Demps in the opening 20 minutes.

Virginia Tech erased that deficit in the second half, though, shooting 48 percent from the field. The Hokies chipped away at the Cats' lead throughout the first half of the second half, tying the game at 58 with a little less than nine minutes to go. Northwestern went back out in front but held on to just a modest edge until Virginia Tech tied the game again at 73 with 55 seconds left in regulation. The game went to an extra period after neither side could convert go-ahead chances.

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The Hokies got two buckets to build a four-point lead in overtime before Sanjay Lumpkin's 3-pointer sliced it back to a one-point deficit. Bryant McIntosh followed that up with a 3-pointer of his own to give the Cats the lead back before a Virginia Tech layup tied the game at 79. After a pair of missed shots by each team, McIntosh got an acrobatic layup to break the tie, and Northwestern played some stifling defense in the final seconds to keep Virginia Tech off the board and seal the victory.

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The Cats finished with a 47.8-percent shooting performance, holding the Hokies to just 40.9-percent shooting. The Cats made 10 3-pointers, though the Hokies made 18 free throws and held a rebounding advantage.

McIntosh finished as the high man for Northwestern, scoring 19 points, grabbing five rebounds, handing out four assists and coming away with three steals. Demps had 17, though he needed a lot of shots to do it, going just 8-for-21 from the field and just 1-for-9 from 3-point range. Lumpkin had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Nathan Taphorn had 11 points off the bench, hitting a trio of 3-pointers.