Virginia came out of the gate a bit sloppy, trailing Davidson by as many as eight early, but turned things around with a late first-half run, en route to an 80-64 win Saturday.
Both teams were coming in off an 11-day break for final exams. Davidson (4-4) looked less rusty at the outset, though, jumping out to an early 14-6 lead eight minutes in on the strength of 4-of-8 three-point shooting.
UVA backup point guard Nigel Johnson was the hot hand in the first half. His 14 points fueled the ‘Hoos through a late flurry, with Virginia closing out the half on a 17-5 run over the final 4:21 to go into the break up eight, at 37-29.
Both teams started off the second half shooting the lights out. Davidson made five of its first seven from the floor, but actually lost ground, as Virginia was 5-of-6 from the floor to open the second half.
After the Wildcats cut the margin to 53-46 on a Peyton Aldridge and-one with 12:54 left, Virginia clamped down on the defensive end, limiting Davidson to three points over the next 8:06 as a 17-3 scoring run pushed the lead to 70-49 on a pair of Kyle Guy free throws at the 5:08 mark.
Johnson finished with a season-high 22 for Virginia, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor in 25 minutes off the bench.
Devon Hall had 20 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field, and added five rebounds and five assists.
Guy had 19 points, 14 in the second half.
UVA shot 50 percent from the field (28-of-56) and connected on 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from three-point range.
Davidson was 24-of-50 (48 percent) from the floor and 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) from three-point range on the afternoon.
Aldridge had 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting to lead the WIldcats.
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Chris Graham
