At times it was ugly, and at other times it got uglier, but in the end, Virginia outlasted Boston College 67-55, and for the Cavaliers, that’s all that mattered.
With the win UVA again avoided back-to-back losses and improved to 13-9 overall, and 7-5 in ACC play.
Virginia, which has yet to develop a go-to scorer on offense, instead used a balanced scoring attack, taking command early in the second half to control the game.
Kihei Clark scored 19 points to lead four Cavalier double-digit scorers.
Virginia has alternated wins and losses in their last nine games. Tonight, Virginia bounced back from a road loss to Notre Dame Saturday. Virginia fell behind BC early in the contest, 11-4, but by halftime the Wahoos led 30-25, and were never seriously threatened by the Eagles.
Virginia won for the ninth time in their last 10 games against Boston College, which fell to 9-12 overall, and 4-7 in ACC action.
In addition to Clark’s game-high 19 points, UVA got 17 points from Jayden Gardner, who also added five rebounds. Kadin Shedrick (13 points) and Armaan Franklin (12 points) rounded out the doble-digit scoring for the Cavaliers.
Virginia opened a 42-27 lead with a 12-2 run to open second-half play. The run was capped by an authoritative spin move and dunk by Shedrick with 14:40 remaining.
BC trimmed the lead to under 10 at 57-48, but only 2:24 remained in the game.
The decisive play of the contest came with Boston College’s Jaeden Zackery made a nice driving layup that briefly sliced the lead to seven with just under two minutes left. Officials, however, called an offensive foul on the move and wiped the points off the scoreboard.
Virginia went to the other end and converted free throws to end the suspense.
Sloppy ballhandling by BC cost the Eagles early and often. Virginia finished with 20 points off 14 Eagle turnovers, including 15 points off eight Boston College first-half miscues.
BC showed some early sign of fatigue, having played Sunday at home against Pitt. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, however, the Panthers’ travel plans to Boston was delayed as a result of the winter storm that hammered the northeast over the weekend.
Poor shooting and sloppy ball handling a recipe for disaster for Boston College: Virginia held BC to 5 of 21 shooting from 3-point range and forced 20 BC turnovers.
Charity indeed does begin at home: wven before a barrage of late BC fouls, the Cavaliers spent plenty of time on the foul line. For the game Virginia was 26-of-29 from the charity stripe, including a perfect 10-of-10 from Clark.
Shedrick continues to emerge: Shedrick had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. In just under 31 minutes, Shedrick also contributed two steals and a block while committing just two fouls.
A hurricane warning for the weekend: the Cavaliers stay home for their next contest, welcoming Miami to JPJ Saturday with a 5 p.m. tip-off.
Story by Scott German
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