Short-Staffed Hokies Narrowly Skate Past Elon 82-81 in Overtime Nailbiter

Virginia Tech wrapped up non-conference play at 11-2 on the 2025-2026 season after a valiant frontcourt showing from Amani Hansberry and Christian Gurdak.

For roughly the past three weeks, the Hokies have been able to take care of business without Tobi Lawal, who has been sidelined due to a lower-body injury. When his interim replacement Antonio Dorn went down with a back injury on Dec. 14 against Maryland Eastern Shore – a contest in which Jailen Bedford was also out with an illness, the remaining squad still held strong and picked up the win against the Hawks.

However, Saturday’s game against Elon was a different story, as Tech’s premiere playmaker Neoklis Avdalas was ruled out for the contest with what was likely an illness.

What seemed to be bad only turned out to be worse for Tech in the first half. The Hokies trailed the entire half with Elon’s largest lead of 19 points occurring numerous times throughout the period. 

Luckily, however, the Hokies were able to knock down 11 unanswered points in the last three minutes of the first to pare the Phoenix lead to eight points, as the narrowed score was 43-35 heading into halftime.

It was rather evident the Tech frontcourt would be doing a lot of heavy lifting against Elon. In the first half alone, Hansberry and Gurdak totaled 21 of Tech’s 35 points.

Needless to say, the Hokies’ second half played out much better than the first. For one, Tech was able to take the lead for the first time in the game after a Hansberry layup with 5:25 left to play made the score 63-62 in favor of the maroon & orange.

The two teams would end up trading scores to make the score 72-72 and head into overtime. Gurdak and Ben Hammond would be the keys to the Hokies securing the win, as the duo came away with eight of Tech’s 10 overtime points. The Hokies would go on to avoid the upset after a missed three-pointer by Elon as time ran out.

Given Avdalas’s absence, the Hokies' core playmakers against Elon were rather new in the box score. Hansberry led the squad in scoring on the afternoon with 20 points, part of his double-double outing as he also came down with 14 rebounds.

Gurdak would end the contest with 17 points, marking his third double-digit point outing in three games where he has had serious playing time.

Hammond and Jaden Schutt kept their one-two punch going, as the pair tallied 15 points and 10 points, respectively. The two were also first and second on the team in minutes played in the contest, as Hammond played 44 minutes and Schutt played 36 minutes.

The most impressive outing, however, was arguably that of Izaiah Pasha. In his second consecutive game with over 25 minutes played, the Delaware transfer showed his instant impact-making ability with an 11 point outing, the fourth-highest point total for Tech in the match.

Without Avdalas and Lawal, the Hokies will have to scrape together every ounce of energy in order to stay competitive in games – as seen with the one-point victory against Elon Saturday. With ACC play coming up in about a week and a half, the Blacksburg bunch can only hope to get everything back in order to be ready for a loaded list of conference opponents.

The Hokies will start conference play with a crucial matchup against archrival Virginia in the Blacksburg edition of the 2025-2026 Commonwealth Clash series. The 9-1 Cavaliers, who currently rank No. 23 in the AP Top 25, will be a significant test for a revitalized Hokies roster looking for validation against ACC contenders.