Matthew Cleveland airballed a second-half free throw. He made the hoop that counted, a three from 35 feet at the buzzer that stunned Virginia, 64-63.
Armaan Franklin had made a floater in the lane with 1.0 seconds on the clock to put Virginia up, 63-61.
That came after a Cleveland driving layup, after Franklin had missed the back end of a 1-and-1, had tied the score with 6.3 seconds to go.
The clock had originally shown 5.5 seconds after that Cleveland make, but game officials reviewed the clock on the TV monitor and added eight-tenths of a second back to the clock.
That would prove crucial.
It was, and wasn’t, the final shot that beat the Cavaliers (17-12, 11-8 ACC).
Virginia led 56-46 with 3:26 to go on a Jayden Gardner layup.
Florida State (15-13, 7-11 ACC) made its last eight shots from the field.
Virginia, on its side, endured a 9-of-32 shooting performance in the second half, and while the ‘Noles were down double-digits two different times in the second half, and were still down nine with 2:19 left, they were able to hang around.
A Cleveland jumper at the 2:06 mark cut the deficit to seven, and a backcourt turnover by Franklin gave FSU another possession, which was translated into points on a Jalen Warley jumper that made it 59-54.
Gardner made 1-of-2 at the line to put Virginia up six at the 1:33 mark.
RayQuan Evans scored on a fast break after the make by Gardner, cutting the margin to four.
Virginia tried to work clock on its next possession, but Gardner missed a stepback jumper with 57 seconds left.
Cleveland turned that into a Cleveland and-one at the rim, and it was 60-59 UVA with 45 seconds left.
Kihei Clark’s only turnover of the game came on Virginia’s next possession, but Kody Stattmann got it back with 14 seconds left.
Franklin was fouled in the backcourt, made the first shot of the ensuing 1-and-1, then missed the second, setting up the wild closing sequence.
Gardner had a game-high 21 points for Virginia.
Franklin finished with 13. Clark had seven points, on 3-of-16 shooting, and six assists, in 40 minutes.
The loss effectively eliminates Virginia from any hope of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
