Good teams find a way to steal Ws. That’s what fourth-ranked Virginia did – steal one – Monday night at Syracuse.
‘Cuse did everything but win that game, shooting 64 percent from the floor in the first half, taking control with a 12-0 second-half run, holding Virginia to 34.5 percent shooting in the second half.
But a pair of threes by Armaan Franklin put UVA back on top, and baskets by Kihei Clark and Jayden Gardner served as the daggers in the 67-62 win in the Dome.
It wasn’t pretty at all, but it should almost count more, considering.
UVA (17-3, 9-2 ACC), which has now won seven straight, turned it over 14 times, couldn’t get stops in the first half, or throw it in the ocean for long stretches in the second half, but the ‘Hoos made the plays down the stretch.
The 12-0 Orange run put Syracuse (13-10, 6-6 ACC) up 51-46 at the 12:04 mark, a Jesse Edwards and-one capping a 5-of-7 shooting stretch.
How Virginia won this one: yeah, defense.
After the Edwards three-point play, Syracuse made three of its last 12 from the floor, which allowed UVA to claw its way back into it.
A tough follow-up bucket by Ben Vander Plas with 11:24 to go ended the 12-0 run, and it was 54-51 ‘Cuse at the under-eight timeout.
Tony Bennett drew up a play in the media TO to get Franklin a look, and he knocked down the open three to tie the score at 54-54 with 7:32 to go.
The next Franklin three, at the 5:55 mark, put Virginia up 57-54.
It was 59-58 ‘Hoos when Clark, off an offensive rebound by Vander Plas, calmly drained a three with 3:04 left off an assist from Franklin.
A pair of Clark free throws made it 64-58 with 2:35 left, before a jumper and then two free throws by Syracuse freshman Judah Mintz got it back down to two inside of two minutes to go.
The plays of the game would be made by Gardner. Gardner took a charge on Edwards, who picked up his fifth foul on the play, with a minute left, and then JG, on the ensuing Virginia possession, drained a midrange jumper with 33 seconds left to push the lead back to four.
Mintz missed a contested three with 15 seconds left, and Franklin made the back end of a two-shot foul to get the margin to five.
Mintz missed again from three with three seconds left.
Box score
Inside the box score
Gardner had another nice night, with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting and a game-high eight rebounds.
Franklin had 12, nine in the second half.
The co-player of the game on the UVA side was Clark, who had 12 points and 10 assists.
Vander Plas had a nice stat-stuffer game, with seven points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Mintz scored 20 for Syracuse, and Edwards had 14 points and seven rebounds.
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Chris Graham
