An Esa Ahmad three-pointer with 1:40 to go broke a 55-55 tie and pushed @25 West Virginia to a 66-57 win over #6 UVA on Saturday in Charlottesville.
Virginia (7-1) led by as many as 11 in the first half, but WVU (6-1) held the Cavs to eight points in the final 12:07 to narrow the lead to one, 25-24, at the break.
Over that stretch, UVA shot 4-of-13 from the field, committed six turnovers and went 0-of-4 from the line, including missing the front ends of two 1-and-1s.
The second half was a pitched battle, with neither team leading by more than four points until the final two minutes.
A 7-0 Cavs run pushed Virginia to a 49-45 lead with 6:21 to go on a dunk by Darius Thompson.
It was 55-55 with 1:44 to go after a free throw by Thompson, and from there it was all Mountaineers.
The Ahmad three, with 1:30 to go, was followed by a missed three from Thompson with 1:02 left.
West Virginia worked the clock on its next possession, which ended with a driving layup by Tarik Phillip that made it 60-55 with 31 seconds left.
London Perrantes missed a wild contested three on Virginia’s next trip, and that was effectively the ballgame.
Perrantes struggled again on Saturday. After rebounding from a woeful first half to finish with a game-high 19 points in the 63-61 win over Ohio State on Wednesday, Perrantes never could get untracked on Saturday, finishing with six points on 2-of-10 shooting and three turnovers.
Perrantes did have seven assists, but his uneasiness with the ball seemed to spread to his teammates. Virginia finished with 14 turnovers, including two right underneath the West Virginia basket on inbounds plays that resulted in WVU scores, and the ‘Neers piled up an 18-5 advantage in points off turnovers, the key stat of the game.
Virginia shot a respectable 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from the floor, but was just 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from three-point range, and 7-if-13 (53.8 percent) from the line.
WVU shot 45.1 percent from the floor (23-of-51) and 26.7 percent from three (4-of-15), but was solid at the line, hitting on 16-of-19 (84.2 percent).
Thompson had a game-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting for UVA. Jevon Carter led West Virginia with 11 points.
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