Virginia Tech 79, Western Carolina 61: Jarell Eddie scored a game-high 17 points and the Hokies held off a strong second-half effort from the visiting Catamounts to secure the victory.

Trevor Thompson logged his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Virginia Tech (2-1). Fellow freshman Ben Emelogu added 16 points for the Hokies.

James Sinclair headlined the effort for Western Carolina (2-2), scoring 16 points while Trey Sumler, who racked up 29 in his season debut at Oregon, tallied 11. The Catamounts were ice cold from long range, shooting just 3-of-25 on 3-point attempts.

The Hokies opened the game on a 13-3 run in the first 9:06, punctuated by a high-flying alley-oop from Emelogu to Thompson. The 5,000-mile round trip to Oregon without a stop at home before arriving at Virginia Tech appeared to affect the Catamounts early, as they missed their first 11 shots and went just 6-for-27 in the first 20 minutes to trail 38-18 at the break.

Western Carolina took advantage of poor free-throw shooting from the Hokies in the middle portion of the second half and mounted a 13-2 run to cut the Virginia Tech lead to 53-43 with 8:11 to play. But the Hokies stabilized themselves down the stretch, sinking 15-of-19 attempts from the charity stripe to finish the game.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Emolegu continued his strong start to his career, scoring double figures in his second consecutive game. … Virginia Tech F C.J. Barksdale served the final game of a three-game suspension. … Despite two games on opposite coasts in 48 hours, Western Carolina plays its third game in four days when it heads to Liberty on Saturday.