A loud and a noticeably different looking crowd in John Paul Jones Arena witnessed what the usual Virginia fan base had seen numerous times this season: a late collapse by the Cavaliers that resulted in a final seconds loss.
UVA missed two key late free throws, and Kihei Clark’s drive to the basket a for a potential game-winning shot was blocked a few rows deep at the horn, allowing St. Bonaventure to rally for 52-51 NIT quarterfinals win.
A gathering of just over 6,000 fans made as much, and at times more, noise than some of the capacity crowds this season, but in the end wasn’t enough to stop Virginia from doing what has become almost routine for the Cavaliers this season.
The loss ended Virginia’s season at 21-14 and left the Cavaliers one game shy of reaching its first NIT Final Four since 1992.
St. Bonaventure, which came to Charlottesville having logged over 5,000 travel miles in the NIT, completed a trifecta over Power Five teams on the road, having won at Colorado, Oklahoma, and then tonight Virginia.
The Bonnies will head home to Rochester, N.Y., before traveling to New York City and Madison Square Garden for a semifinal contest against Xavier, which defeated Vanderbilt 75-73, next Tuesday.
Virginia now officially enters the offseason. After another game of what-ifs.
St. Bonaventure shot just 37 percent, and a dismal 20 percent from behind the arc, but hit all nine free throws in the game, and that’s how this game was decided.
The Bonnies’ Kyle Lofton capped off a perfect night at the charity stripe by making two free throws with five seconds remaining. Osun Osunniyi blocked Clark’s drive at the buzzer.
The last-second play may have had a different look had not Reece Beekman fouled out after a highly questionable charging foul in the final two minutes. Virginia coach Tony Bennett said afterward that had Beekman been on the floor, the play may have looked differently.
The bottom line for Virginia was simple, make free throws and the charging call, right or wrong, on Beekman becomes irrelevant.
Virginia made plenty of late-game mistakes Sunday against North Texas State, but somehow held on to win. Tonight against St. Bonaventure, not so.
Armaan Franklin, who suddenly found his stroke from behind the arc, missed the second of his two free throws with 30 seconds left, and then Jayden Gardner missed the front end of a one-and one with 18 ticks left. That’s a potential three points, and tonight proved lethal for the Wahoos.
So, a season that was bookended with home losses to Navy and a quarterfinal NIT loss against St. Bonaventure, may have been disappointing to some, but history may prove otherwise.
In the 2012-2013, Virginia lost in the NIT quarterfinals, finishing 23-12. The next season, the Cavaliers won the ACC regular season and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen with a 30-7 overall mark.
Story by Scott German
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