BLACKSBURG – Malcolm Delaney scored 22 points and Erick Green added 20 to help Virginia Tech rally in the final five minutes past Maryland 91-83 in an ACC game played at Cassell Coliseum on Tuesday night.

The Hokies continued their winning ways, moving to 17-7 overall, 7-4 in the ACC. They won for the 13^th time in their past 16 games, and they swept the season series from Maryland, following a 72-57 victory over the Terps on Jan. 20 with this one.

“This was an unbelievable character win for our basketball team,” Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “I talked to the guys before the game about six things that really manifested itself during the game – energy, effort and execution.

“In the second half, even when we were tired, we had unbelievable energy. We gave great effort down the stretch, and we executed about as well as you can execute. We had zero turnovers in the second half until there were about 30 seconds left [actually, 55].

“Then, I talked to them about toughness, togetherness and trust. You can’t have trust without togetherness. The play that exemplifies that was when Malcolm, with the shot clock running down, draws the defense and believes in Erick Green and throws it to him. And Erick knocks down that big 3 [with 3:24 remaining]. That’s what this team right now is all about. We showed great character.”

Tech trailed 76-75 after a basket by Maryland’s Jordan Williams with 5:21 remaining in the game. But behind Delaney and Green, Tech went 9-0 run to take control of the game.

Following two Delaney free throws with 4:54 remaining and then a jumper by Delaney with 4:33 left – his only basket of the second half – Green hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 to go and the shot clock running down. That bucket gave Tech an 82-76 lead. Delaney hit two more free throw with 1:14 left that gave the Hokies an 84-76 lead, their biggest of the game.

Maryland (16-10, 5-6) stopped the run with a 3-pointer by Dino Gregory with 1:09 left. The Terps cut the lead to 87-83 with 33 seconds left on two Terrell Stoglin free throws.

But Delaney hit two free throws with 28 seconds left push the lead back to six, and after Stoglin missed a 3-pointer, Delaney added two more with 14 seconds to go to account for the final margin.

“My shots weren’t falling, but I tried to do other things to get my teammates involved,” Delaney said. “I couldn’t make shots, but at the end of the game, I wanted the ball in my hands. I knew I could put the game away at the free-throw line.”

Despite hitting just 3 of 14 from the floor, Delaney canned all 14 of his free-throw attempts, and the Hokies made 9 of 10 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes. Delaney finished with five assists and no turnovers in 40 minutes.

Jeff Allen added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double, while Terrell Bell also finished with 16 points – including a career-high five 3-pointers. Victor Davila chipped in 14 points.

Stoglin had a career-high 25 points and six assists for Maryland. Williams added 16 points and nine rebounds.