#9 UVA holds off Boston Colllege, 59-58, in ACC opener

Ninth-ranked UVA got 31 points from Ty Jerome, but needed two defensive stops in the final 3.1 seconds, to defeat Boston College, 59-58, on Saturday.

BC (10-4, 1-1 ACC) had the ball for a final shot with 3.1 seconds left. After a timeout, an inbounds pass was stolen at midcourt by Isaiah Wilkins, apparently sealing the game for Virginia (12-1, 1-0 ACC), but the clock didn’t start on time, and following a lengthy review, game officials awarded the ball back to the Eagles with 3.1 seconds back on the clock.

On the second try, the ball was inbounded to forward Nik Popovic, who was whistled for an offensive foul with 1.2 seconds left. The ‘Hoos inbounded the ball and ran the clock out.

Jerome’s scoring was a career-high. The sophomore connected on 11-of-17 from the field, 6-of-9 from three-point range, and scored Virginia’s final eight points.

A Jerome three with 4:16 to go broke a 51-51 tie, and another three with 3:22 to go gave UVA a 57-53 lead.

A pair of Jerome free throws with 53.1 seconds left put Virginia up 59-55. A Jerome Robinson three-pointer with 44 seconds left cut the margin to one.

Wilkins missed a three from the left corner with 23 seconds left, but Jerome came up with the offensive rebound, and UVA worked the ball around before a BC foul put senior Devon Hall on the line for a 1-and-1 with 14 seconds left.

Hall missed the front end. Boston College rebounded, and guard Ky Bowman drove into the lane for a contested layup, which was blocked by Wilkins out of bounds with 3.1 seconds to go, setting up the final sequence.

Virginia led 30-25 at the half, but shot just 35.7 percent from the floor in the second half (10-of-28), and 39.7 percent for the game (23-of-58).

Kyle Guy had 11 points for the Cavaliers, on 4-of-14 shooting from the floor.

Robinson had 29 points for BC, on 12-of-22 shooting. Jordan Chatman had 18 for the Eagles, who shot 42.3 percent from the floor (22-of-52).