No. 14 Virginia Has No Problem With No. 4 Tennessee, 107-89
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Dec. 19, 2000
By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Stephane Dondon scored 11 of his 16 points in afirst-half run that carried No. 14 Virginia to a 107-89 victory over No. 4Tennessee in the battle of the unbeatens that opened the Jimmy V Classic onTuesday night.
The Cavaliers (7-0) used a balanced scoring attack, 3-point shooting and apressing defense to continue their best start since opening the 1992-93 seasonwith 11 straight wins.
Donald Hand, a Paterson native, had 21 points and nine assists in his returnto New Jersey, while Roger Mason Jr. added 18, and Keith Friel, who shook off afirst-half injury to his left knee, had 16.
The Cavaliers were 31-of-67 from the field (48.5 percent), including10-of-18 from 3-point range. They also forced 19 turnovers, although theofficial count seemed well short.
Isiah Victor had 20 points for Tennessee (9-1), which never handledVirginia’s three-quarter pressure in failing to become the third Vols’ team inthe last four years to open with 10 straight wins. Tony Harris added 18 pointsin Tennessee’s worst defensive game of the season.
Virginia never trailed after Friel hit two 3-pointers in a 13-4 run thatgave the Cavaliers a 19-10 lead.
Tennessee, which only hit two jumpers in the first half, stayed closescoring inside while converting 15 of 21 free throws. A rebound slam by VincentYarbrough got the Vols within 32-27 with 6:13 left in the half.
Friel, who missed about six minutes while his left knee was examined after afall under the basket, hit two free throws, and then Dondon took over infinishing off the 19-7 spurt.
The senior from France who was averaging 3.4 points this season made fourfree throws, converted a baseline jumper, a three-point play and a layup overthe next five minutes to push the lead to 51-34.
Dondon had just 15 points in 84 minutes over the previous five games.
The Cavaliers led 57-40 at the half and pushed their margin to 22 points inthe second half with 11:04 to go on a baseline move by Mason.
When the crowd at the Continental Airlines Arena started chanting”Over-rated!” with about five minutes to play, the Vols made a run and cutthe lead to 10 points on a couple of occasions, but they never got closer asHand and Friel nailed a couple of 3-pointers.