For Virginia senior center Jason Rogers, this game was a modern fairy tale, complete with a happy ending. The seldom-used center played a big first half on senior night to spark an 80-78 Virginia (15-14, 6-10 ACC) upset overtime victory over No. 13 Maryland (19-8, 11-5) Sunday night.
Rogers, who had played 14 minutes all season, bolted out of the gate with 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half.
His career-high 21 minutes of play included three big blocks and a running one-handed jam that lit a spark under the Virginia crowd.
"He came out and set the tone for the team right from the start," Virginia junior guard Todd Billet said. "It kind of just ran through the whole team."
Maryland forward Ryan Randle missed a last second tip-in off a long shot from point guard Steve Blake in overtime as Virginia was able to hold on to the lead. Randle, whose dunk off a feed from Blake tied the game at 73 to send the game into overtime, could not capitalize this time.
"You can't get a better last shot than we had," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "The last shot was six inches, and we missed."
With the win, Virginia snapped a seven-game skid and recorded a season sweep of the defending national champion Terps for the first time in 10 years.
"Our kids played with great emotion and fire, which has been missing for a long time," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "Emotion and fire and passion can make up for a lot of things. We were able to sneak out a victory by playing with tremendous energy. Jason Rogers gave us that."
Virginia senior forward Travis Watson was not to be outdone by his classmate. Watson took over in the second half, scoring 17 of his team-high 26 points and grabbed eight of his game-high 15 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the season.
"He has great hands," Williams said. "He's one of those guys that everyone would like to coach. He's relentless. He's had a great career here."
Watson also went 10:12 from the line, including four down the stretch in the second half.
"Travis was great," Gillen said. "He got some big rebounds and the big stick back in overtime. We just wanted to go to him inside. They couldn't handle him, man or zone."
The Cavaliers never trailed in overtime and opened a five-point lead on Watson's put back with 2:14 left.
After a free throw by Maryland's Jamar Smith and an Elton Brown miss, Blake hit a three-pointer to close it to 79-78 with 1:18 left. Both teams were silent in the next minute, as Brown missed another jumper and two free throws with 18.9 seconds left.
With eight ticks remaining, Maryland guard Drew Nicholas, who finished with a game high 27 points, rimmed out a three-pointer from about 26 feet. Watson grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit one of two free throws, giving Maryland one last chance that Randle couldn't put away.
In regulation, Blake hit a big three with 1:26 left to give Maryland a 71-70 lead, its first in nearly 17 minutes. But Virginia junior guard Todd Billet hit one of his six three-pointers with 41.9 seconds left to put Virginia upbefore Randle made the game-tying dunk.
Virginia forward Devin Smith and Maryland's Blake each missed potentially game-winning threes at the end of regulation.
Virginia led most of the first half, but the Terrapins opened the second half with a 9-2 spurt to take a two-point lead. Watson and Billet responded, combining for Virginia's next 20 points to stretch the lead to as much as seven.
"Todd has to do a lot," Gillen said. "He's got a great burden, bigger than most people. He was great. When guys like Travis and Todd have great games, you hate to see it go to waste. Thank God we came away with a victory."
Virginia wins a tiebreaker with North Carolina by virtue of its split against ACC champ Wake Forest and will face No. 3 Duke in the first round of the ACC tournament Friday night. The win also guaranteed that the Cavaliers will be eligible for the National Invitational Tournament.
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