Most of BYU’s deep balls came up short for another game before Brock Zylstra drilled a 3-pointer late to help secure a 70-68 victory at Virginia Tech on Wednesday.

Zylstra’s first made shot of the night broke a 66-66 tie with 23 seconds left before teammate Anson Winder stole the ball on the ensuing possession to seal the game.

BYU (18-5, 6-2 WCC), the second-best 3-point shooting team in the WCC, struggled again from the perimeter, shooting only 20.8 percent. The Cougars have made only nine of their last 60 attempts behind the arc but still managed to avoid a loss to the ACC’s worst team, which would have surely crippled their resume for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid come March.

Virginia Tech (12-8, 1-4 ACC) wasn’t much better from anywhere on the floor early and trailed 13-1 after taking nearly 10 minutes to make its first field goal. Dorenzo Hudson, though, scored a team-high 14 points off the bench to help the Hokies claim a brief lead with four minutes left in the second half.

Free throws proved to be the difference, though, as BYU made 21 of 24, including 11 of 12 from Brandon Davies. The hulking forward combined with teammate Noah Hartsock for 39 points to overcome a miserable shooting night by the Cougars (22 for 66). The Hokies, leading the ACC in free throw percentage at 75 percent, missed crucial free throws down the stretch in going 15 of 23.