No. 1 UVa locks up the top seed in the ACC Tournament in 65-54 win
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It was a classic "it wasn't pretty" sort of game for No. 1 UVa on Wednesday night. Coming off a week-long break and having to contend with a career sort of night from Georgia Tech's Ben Lammers, the Wahoos still managed to hold on for a 65-54 win that locked up the top seed in next month's ACC Tournament.
Virginia (25-1, 14-1 ACC) got a team-high 18 points from Ty Jerome on the way to the win as well as getting six points or more from six other players with 19 points total coming from its bench.
Though the Jackets only led the game for a total of 3:16, this one was much closer than the blowout win UVa had in Atlanta last month. Lammers scored 22 for Georgia Tech (11-17, 4-11 ACC) and his efforts, along with Tadric Jackson's 15 points, kept GT in the game most of the way.
After turning it over 18 times (and watching UVa score 16 points off those turnovers) in the 64-48 loss at home several weeks ago, the Jackets took care of the ball in this one. They only turned it over six times and the Wahoos only got nine points off of them.
As such, the Cavaliers had to find other ways to score and that came in the paint. Jack Salt (3-for-6), Isaiah Wilkins (3-for-3), and Mamadi Diakite (4-for-4) shot 77 percent from the floor and scored a combined 22 points.
Things got started inside for UVa early, as Salt's bucket down low off an assist from Devon Hall gave the Cavaliers the initial lead. Lammers responded, scoring not only the next basket but he scored his team's first seven points, as the two squads were tied at 7-7 at the under-16.
UVa responded to Lammers' success inside by continuing to feed the post and for the most part, it worked. But the Hoos couldn't shake the Jackets, who got a key 3-pointer from Josh Okogie to tie it up at 12-12 with 11:33 left in the first half. By the time the next media timeout came, it was 17-14 off a De'Andre Hunter bucket inside, his first field goal of the night.
But Georgia Tech took the lead on a Jackson 3-pointer and then, after Wilkins scored inside, extended it on Jackson's second shot from deep. The Jackets could only build a three-point lead, though, as Jerome hit a 3-pointer with 4:16 left before halftime that put UVa up for good.
Leading 31-30 at the break, the Cavaliers opened the second half on a 6-2 spurt ended by Lammers' second field goal after intermission. After Hall's 3-pointer and a drive to basket prior to the under-16, Diakite began to make his presence felt. He scored inside, then had an and-1, and then dunked off a Hunter assist to make it 46-42 with 12:12 remaining.
Credit to the Jackets, though, who refused to go quietly. Jackson scored five in a row for Tech and then Lammers got to the free-throw line and made both to cut it to three with 11:31 left. But Jerome hit another 3-pointer, and after a Brandon Alston bucket in transition (the lone fast-break points of the night), Hall hit a pair of FTs before Jerome hit another 3-pointer to make it 54-49 with 8:44 left.
Georgia Tech continued to scrape and claw but the Hoos sealed it thanks to another 6-2 run prior to the under-4 and then a horrid stretch from the floor for the Jackets, who finished making just two of their last 10 field-goal attempts.
The victory was UVa's 25th of the year, marking the eighth time in school history and the fourth time under head coach Tony Bennett. The Wahoos also held their 21st opponent below 60 points scoring and limited its 26th opponent to less than 50-percent shooting from the field.
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