Senior forward Mike Scott scored 17 points and had six rebounds, and freshman forward Darion Atkins had career highs with 13 points and seven rebounds to lead Virginia to a 69-42 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore Tuesday night (Dec. 27) at John Paul Jones Arena.
The victory was the ninth in a row for the Cavaliers and improved their record to 11-1 on the season. Virginia is ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press poll and No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. The loss dropped Maryland-Eastern Shore’s record to 3-10.
Virginia’s nine-game winning streak is the longest for the Cavaliers since 2001-02 and UVa is 11-1 for the first time since the 2000-01 season. The Cavaliers have won their last eight home games.
Sophomore guard Joe Harris added 10 points for Virginia and sophomore forward Akil Mitchell tied his career highs with nine points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers.
Senior guard Hillary Haley was the only player to score in double figures for Maryland-Eastern Shore with 11 points.
UVa never trailed in the game and led by as many as 12 points in the first half before taking a 30-20 halftime lead.
Haley hit a three-point basket to open the second half for the Hawks and cut Virginia’s lead to seven points at 30-23. The Cavaliers then took control of the game by scoring 12 consecutive points to lead 42-23 with 15:41 left to play. Scott scored 10 of UVa’s points in the run.
Maryland-Eastern Shore got no closer than 17 points the rest of the game.
Virginia shot 50 percent (30-60) from the field for the game, including 30.0 percent (6-20) from three-point range, and 50 percent (3-6) from the free-throw line. The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Hawks 41-29.
Maryland-Eastern Shore shot 27.8 percent (15-54) from the field, including 22.2 percent (4-18) from three-point range, and 88.9 percent (8-9) from the free-throw line.
UVa returns to action on Friday (Dec. 30) when the Cavaliers host Towson at John Paul Jones Arena. That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
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