Malcolm Brogdon scored 22 points, but made his most significant contribution on the defensive end in helping lift top seed Virginia to a 77-69 win over Butler in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
UVA (28-7) started the second half hitting 12 of their first 13 shots from the field, but couldn’t get any separation from the Bulldogs (22-11) because power forward Andrew Chrabascz was having a career night.
Chrabascz had 12 in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, and hit his first four shots in the second half, three from three-point range, and Butler’s 25-23 halftime lead grew to 41-36 with 15:16 to go.
Cavs coach Tony Bennett switched Brogdon, the 2016 ACC defensive player of the year, to Chrabascz, and he didn’t score in the final 16:32, and only got two shots from the field in that stretch.
A pair of free throws by Anthony Gill gave UVA a 48-47 lead with 10:47 to go, and the ‘Hoos would not trail again, but the game would remain tight.
Virginia twice opened up nine-point leads late, but Butler closed to 72-69 on a free throw by Roosevelt Jones with 36 seconds left.
A Marial Shayok free throw pushed the margin to four, and Kellen Dunham missed a contested three with 12 seconds left.
Gill got the rebound, and Brogdon closed out the game with four free throws in the final seconds.
Brogdon’s 22 came on 8-of-14 shooting. Gill had 19 on 7-of-9 shooting with a game-high eight rebounds.
Shayok had 12 and Mike Tobey had 10 off the bench for the Cavs, which shot a blistering 73.1 percent from the field (19-of-26) in the second half and 55.8 percent (29-of-52) for the game.
Butler got the 25 from Chrabascz. Jones had 18 for the Bulldogs, who shot 46.3 percent from the floor (46.3 percent) for the game.
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Chris Graham
