#11 Virginia beats Wake on banked three at buzzer, 72-71

Wake Forest led by as many as 14 in the second half, but three three-pointers in the final 14 seconds, the last a bank from the left corner by Darius Thompson, lifted #11 Virginia to an improbable 72-71 win Tuesday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Demon Deacons (10-10, 1-7 ACC) led 17-8 eight minutes in, 26-24 at the half, and hit five of their first six three-point shots in the second half to lead 52-38 with 7:57 left.

Virginia (16-4, 5-3 ACC) wouldn’t get closer than seven until a London Perrantes layup with 1:04 left cut the deficit to 64-58.

A pair of missed free throws by Bryant Crawford opened the door, and Malcolm Brogdon nailed a three with 54 seconds left to cut the deficit to three.

But Wake would still lead 70-63 when Marial Shayok hit a seemingly superfluous three-pointer with 14 seconds left to make it a four-point game.

Devin Thomas missed two free throws, and Brogdon hit a three with four seconds left to make it a one-point game.

Crawford made the second of a two-shot foul to push the lead back to two. Virginia, with no timeouts, inbounded the ball to Devin Hall near halfcourt. He found Thompson in the right corner, and the sophomore connected on a wild shot that kissed glass at an unusual angle and found the bottom of the net as time expired.

UVA scored 14 points in the final 54 seconds and made eight of its last nine from the field.

Wake, for its part, left the door wide open with a series of misses at the free-throw line. The Deacons were just 7-of-14 from the line in the final 1:05.

Brogdon had 28 on 10-of-16 shooting from the field to lead Virginia, which shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the floor for the game, and made its last four three-point attempts after starting 1-of-13 from long-range.

Anthony Gill had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting before fouling out with 39 seconds left.

Shayok had 10 points off the bench, going 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from three-point range.

Crawford led Wake Forest with 22 points, 18 in the second half, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range, but missing three of his six free-throw attempts, including the front end of the two-shot foul with four seconds left that left the door open for the dramatic finish.

Virginia Team Notes

• UVA snapped its three-game ACC road losing streak
• UVA has a four-game winning streak vs. Wake Forest
• UVA trailed 17-8 at 11:24 of the first half, but went on a 10-0 run to gain an 18-17 lead
• The Cavaliers trailed 26-24 at halftime, marking the third time UVA has trailed at the half in four ACC road games
• UVA trailed 61-52 with 2:08 left in the game, but outscored Wake Forest 20-10 to gain the win
• The Cavaliers have a three-game winning streak overall
• Wake Forest shot 53.5 percent (23-43) from the field, which marked a season-high for an opponent against Virginia this season
•  Virginia is 73-4 when scoring 70 or more points under Tony Bennett

Virginia Player Notes

• Darius Thompson sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the win
• Anthony Gill (17 points) became the 46^th Cavalier to reach 1,000 career points at UVA
• Gill reached double-figures in scoring for the 20^th straight game (23 straight dating back to 2014-15)
• Malcolm Brogdon matched a career-high with 28 points, reaching the 20-point barrier for the 10^th time this season
• Brogdon passed Othell Wilson (1981-84, 1,469 points) for 19th on UVA’s all-time scoring list
• Marial Shayok scored 10 points, his most since scoring 11 vs. Lehigh (Nov. 25)
• Evan Nolte (4 points) tallied his first field goal since Dec. 5 (William & Mary)