With less than four minutes to go in the Tuesday night road game against Virginia Tech, the No. 14 Virginia men’s basketball team trailed 46-42 and was staring down an embarrassing defeat to its hated rival.
Thirty seconds later, sophomore guard Justin Anderson hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one point, and senior guard Joe Harris would follow with a three of his own, putting the Cavaliers ahead for good and spurring the team to a 57-53 win in Blacksburg.
Virginia (22-5, 13-1 ACC) started out strong, taking an early 8-2 lead, but the Hokies would dominate the first half, hitting four 3-pointers to jump out ahead. Virginia Tech (9-16, 2-11 ACC) took a 17-14 lead midway through the first half and kept the lead, going into the break up 28-21. The Cavaliers only narrowly missed falling behind by a larger margin as sophomore guard Malcolm Brogdon hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
The second half started out much the same way, as Virginia Tech built a 40-29 lead five minutes into the half. Virginia shot 39 percent from the field in the game and struggled to fight back for much of the half.
A 5-0 run midway through the half would narrow the lead to 43-41, but the Hokies held the lead going into the game’s last five minutes. It was not until Harris’ three at 2:40 that Virginia show signs of life, taking a 48-46 lead.
Anderson followed it up with another 3-pointer and a free throw to complete a 10-0 run and make it 52-46. The teams traded free throws as Virginia sealed the 57-53 win.
Virginia moves to 13-1 with the win, and clinches at worst the No. 4 seed and a double bye in the ACC tournament. The team will look to extend its 10-game win streak when they host Notre Dame Saturday.
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