#2 UVA battles past Florida State, 51-41

Another starter went down to injury, but second-ranked UVA was able to pull away late for a 51-41 win over Florida State Sunday night in front of a packed house at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia (25-1, 13-1 ACC) led 31-25 with 14:39 to go when starting guards Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes collided on a defensive possession, both going down and being taken off the court. Brogon would return at the 12:59 mark, but Perrantes would not get back into the game, though he did return to the bench with about seven minutes left.

Florida State (15-13, 7-8 ACC) went on a 12-5 run to take a 37-36 lead on a Jarquez Smith jumper with 10:33 to go. A Devon Hall layup on Virginia’s next possession put the Cavs back in front with 10:08 to go, and the UVA defense took over from there.

FSU didn’t score from the field after the Smith jumper, with the ‘Noles missing their last 12 shots.

Virginia had trouble closing the game out at the line, going 2-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final 53 seconds.

UVA led 22-21 at the break after going through a more than seven-minute-long drought from the field midway through the half. The Cavs led 12-4 eight minutes in, but Florida State went on an extended 12-1 run to lead 16-15 at the 4:21 mark, and the teams traded the lead until a Darion Atkins tip-dunk in the final minute put UVA ahead going into the locker room.

Anthony Gill led Virginia with 13 points and nine rebounds. Atkins had 11 points, and Brogdon had 10.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes had 13 points for Florida State, which shot 32.6 percent (15-of-46) from the field and 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from three-point range.

Virginia shot 43.9 percent from the field (18-of-41) and just 1-of-11 from three-point range. The Cavs ended the night 14-of-27 from the foul line.

UVA outrebounded FSU 34-30.