In the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Virginia moved past Middle Tennessee State with a 74-52 win Monday night.
The Cavaliers (4-0) started out the game going on a 9-0 run, as the Blue Raiders (3-2) didn’t score until nearly five minutes into the game. Virginia maintained a comfortable lead for most of the half, being ahead by as much as 21. However, a surge later in the half by Middle Tennessee cut Virginia’s lead to single digits. But, a few turnovers by the Blue Raiders in the last few minutes enabled the Cavaliers to head into the locker room with a 38-25 lead.
In the second half, Middle Tennessee got as close as eight points to Virginia’s lead, but the Cavaliers never let up. Led by sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter — who had 15 points on 5-9 shooting, while also adding nine assists and eight rebounds — Virginia cruised to a 22-point victory. Junior guard Kyle Guy also had 15 points, but only shot 35.7 percent on the night. Junior transfer forward Braxton Key added 13 points to the scoreboard, while junior forward Mamadi Diakite had eight points.
As a team, the Cavaliers shot 46.4 percent on all field goal attempts and 34.8 percent from three. While Virginia never trailed in the game, it wasn’t a perfect performance from the Cavaliers, who had 13 turnovers.
Defensively, Virginia held Middle Tennessee to 39.2 percent field goal shooting and 23.1 three-point shooting. The Blue Raiders were led by Antonio Green and Reggie Scurry, who had 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
The Cavaliers will now take on Dayton in the next round on Thursday with a 4 p.m. tip-off time.
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