BLACKSBURG, Va. – Brendan Johnson scored a career-high 17 points as Coppin State's men's basketball team dropped its season opener on Election Night at Virginia Tech, 88-54 at Cassell Coliseum.
 
A junior from Baltimore, Johnson, who came in with eight career points, made 8-of-13 from the floor including a 3-pointer, while adding six rebounds and two steals. Johnson's backcourt mate, Sven Djopmo, added eight points off the bench on 3-of-7 shooting, also setting a career high.
 
Virginia Tech had four players score in double figures and outshot the Eagles, 50.0% to 36.5% while hitting 13-of-28 (46.4%) from 3-point range and 17-of-26 from the line.  Coppin managed just a pair of threes and made 14-of-24 (58.3%) from the line. CSU also committed 24 turnovers, which the Hokies turned into 26 points.
 
Camaren Sparrow added seven points, four rebounds and two blocks for the Eagles and he was followed by Baasil Saunders with six and Josiah Brown with five points and two steals. Favour Aire matched Johnson with a team-high six rebounds along with a block while Tafara Gapare blocked a pair of shots in his CSU debut.
 
Johnson hit a midrange jumper early in the game to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead, but the Hokies scored the next eight points and did not trail again.  Johnson scored the team's first nine points, but Virginia Tech was able to extend its lead to 19-9 before Brown got on the board for Coppin with a free throw at the 11:58 mark of the first half.
 
Virginia Tech led by as many as 39-17 in the first half following a three with 2:43 remaining, but Coppin cut the deficit to 45-27 at the break. The Hokies scored the first six points of the second half before Sparrow scored seven-straight points to pull the Eagles within 54-36 with 14:39 left in regulation.
 
The hosts responded with six-straight points and began to slowly extend their lead.
 
 Coppin returns to action on Friday, November 6 when it travels to George Mason for a 7 pm tipoff on ESPN+.