Virginia rallied from an 18-point deficit to take a brief second-half lead, but couldn’t fight off Delaware down the stretch as the Blue Hens took a 59-53 victory over the Cavs on Tuesday night.
The win sends Delaware to the NIT semifinals in Madison Square Garden in New York next week.
It didn’t look at the start that UVa. (1-2) would put up much resistance, as the Cavs could muster just 15 first-half points in going into the halftime break down 28-15.
An Evan Nolte three-pointer brought Virginia all the way back to lead 42-41 at the 7:58 mark of the second half. After a Delaware timeout, Devon Saddler answered with a three of his own that made it 44-42, keying a quick 8-0 run that pushed the Hens’ lead back to seven.
A Joe Harris layup with 3:11 to go cut the deficit to one at 51-50, but that was as close as the ‘Hoos would get.
Harris led Virginia with 20 points, but was just 7-for-19 from the field.
Akil Mitchell had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Virginia.
Saddler led three Hens in double figures with 15 points.
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