MIAMI, Fla. -- When the evening began, No. 11 Miami was sitting in second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference race behind No. 5 North Carolina.

When it ended late in the night Wednesday, the Hurricanes were tied with the Tar Heels for the top.

But it wasn't easy.

The Hurricanes (21-4, 10-3 ACC) were without their second-leading scorer, guard Ja'Quan Newton, and saw their leading scorer, guard Sheldon McClellan, pick up two early fouls and play only eight minutes in the first have but parlayed a strong second half into a 65-49 victory over Virginia Tech

The win coupled with Duke's 74-73 victory at Chapel Hill sets up a duel for the top spot when the Hurricanes visit North Carolina Saturday afternoon.

"I was just informed," Miami guard Davon Reed said when asked about his team's new first-place status. "That's great news, but we've got to take care of business Saturday. We've been looking forward to playing them."

Reed scored 12 points, two fewer than leading scorer guard Angel Rodriguez, as the Hurricanes recovered from 30.4 percent shooting in the first half to blister the nets with 60-percent accuracy in the second to end any thought the visiting Hokies (13-13, 5-8) might have been harboring about an upset.

The Hurricanes went to the locker room down 22-21 at the half but opened the second half on a 14-2 run in just over five minutes to take command and roll to their fifth consecutive victory overall.

The Hokies were able to cut a 35-24 Miami lead down to six points, 39-33, but could get no closer and lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.

"I'm very, very pleased with the win, especially considering that in the first half we didn't execute the plan that we had in mind," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "We started out the game we were 0-for-5 from 3 in the first half minutes and we had told the team that if we settled for 3s and didn't get the ball in the paint that that was to their advantage."

The plan was for the Hurricanes to get the ball inside and to get to the free-throw line, not bomb from long range.

"We didn't do that early, and we didn't do it in the first half very well," Larranaga said. "However, in the second half we immediately did it and we were able to gain control of the game."

The Hurricanes eventually pulled out to a trio of 21-point leads, their largest of the game, over the last four minutes.

"I thought our effort on defense in the first half was good," Tech coach Buzz Williams said. "Obviously, it was diametrically opposed to that in the second half for sure."

Unlike the Hurricanes, who rediscovered their shooting touch in the second half, the Hokies, who lost for the seventh time in their last eight games, never did find theirs. They were 8 of 28 in the first half (28.6 percent) and 8 of 26 in the second (30.8) to finish at 29.6 percent.

Freshman guard Justin Robinson was the only Hokie in double figures with 12 points. He was five of nine from the field and had four steals off the bench.

"I came in and my teammates put me in a groove right away," Robinson said. "They were looking for me. It was just perfect time for me to step in. I think my teammates looked for it. It was all on them. They just set me up the whole time."

In addition to the 26 combined points of Rodriguez and Reed, McClellan added 11 points to run his streak of double-figure outings to 13 consecutive games, and center Tonye Jekiri also had 11. Forward Kamari Murphy scored only six points but tied his season high in rebounds with 10 for Miami.

NOTES: This is the first of two meetings between the two teams. The rematch on March 5 in Blacksburg, Va., will wind up the regular season. ... Miami G Ja'Quan Newton did not play because of a medical condition and according to a release by the school is under a doctor's care. ... Virginia Tech G/F Chris Clarke made his second appearance after missing 12 games following foot surgery on Dec. 29. Clarke, who had 11 starts the first two months of the season, entered the game at the 16:38 mark of the first half. ... F Ivan Cruz Uceda returned to action after missing Miami's previous two games because of illness.