Virginia, again, let itself get pushed around by a bigger, more physical opponent, but the 24th-ranked Cavaliers did just enough on Wednesday to hold off West Virginia, winning 56-54 in the consolation game at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
The Mountaineers (2-3) outrebounded UVA (5-1) 41-28, and got 17 points apiece from its bigs, 6’9” power forward Quinn Slazinski and 6’11” center Jesse Edwards.
Virginia’s centers, Blake Buchanan and Jake Groves, for their part, combined to grab a grand total of two rebounds in their 35 minutes of floor time.
That’s not going to cut it.
The Cavaliers won with, what else, effort and productivity on the defensive end, forcing 16 WVU turnovers that led to 18 UVA points.
Reece Beekman, who had 17 points and seven assists on the other nine made baskets by his teammates in the ugly 65-41 loss to Wisconsin on Monday, had 12 points, including the free throw with 2.3 seconds left that broke a 54-54 tie, along with five assists and four steals.
The free throw came at the tail end of a wild final minute and a half.
A Beekman drive and finish gave UVA a 52-51 lead with 1:29 to go, and then after Edwards, fouled by Buchanan, his fifth, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:11 to go, Ryan Dunn scored on a tough drive with 45 seconds left to push the lead to three, at 54-51.
Dunn fouled Slazinski on a three at the 36-second mark, and the big man drained all three free throws to tie the score.
Virginia ran clock, then got an open look from three from Dunn that missed, but Leon Bond III grabbed the offensive rebound, just the fifth of the night for Virginia, then got the ball back to Beekman, who was fouled on a drive to the hoop.
Beekman made the first shot of the two-shot foul, and West Virginia coach Josh Eilert used his final timeout in between free throws, presumably to set up his team’s final possession.
Not sure on this, but it seemed to me that Beekman missed the back end intentionally; either way, the carom bounded high off the back rim, and Dunn grabbed the board, and was fouled with four-tenths of a second on the clock.
Dunn made the first free throw, then missed the second, and time expired.
So, in the end, Virginia, outrebounded, outmuscled all night, got the two biggest 50/50 balls of the night, and that’s why the game ended with a W for the good guys.
But for the bulk of the first 39:54 of this one, West Virginia mostly did what it wanted.
Virginia did, ever so briefly, open up a 10-point lead when Edwards went to the bench with his third foul early in the second half, but WVU stormed back with a 16-4 run over a 4:13 stretch that included three straight threes – two from Seth Wilson, the third, from Kobe Johnson, giving the Mountaineers a 42-40 lead with 8:41 on the clock.
The last nine minutes saw four ties and six lead changes, so, the fans got their money’s worth.
Tony Bennett needs to find a solution at the five spot to get a guy in the lineup who can grab a rebound, or this is going to be a long season.
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Chris Graham
