Cavaliers Take Season Opener Over Mount St. Mary's, 80-71

Story Links

Nov. 23, 2003

Box Score?|?Quotes |? Video Highlights

By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – Three freshmen scored all of Virginia’s pointsduring a 19-8 second-half run Sunday night and the Cavaliers won their seasonopener 80-71 against Mount St. Mary’s.

Gary Forbes and Donte Minter had nine points each in the run, which startedon a free throw by J.R. Reynolds and turned a tenuous 47-44 lead into a 66-52advantage with 8:47 remaining.

The Mountaineers (0-4) used a 6-for-6 start to the second half to get within47-44 on Landy Thompson’s 3-pointer with 16:55 to play. But Mount St. Mary’sthen went nearly nine minutes without a field goal while the newest Cavaliersmade their run.

Virginia was playing without tri-captain Devin Smith, who has a back injury,and Jason Clark, who has not been with the team all year for reasons coach PeteGillen has declined to discuss.

That put the onus on the freshmen to carry much of the load, and theyresponded. After Reynolds’ free throw, Forbes made a steal and drove for a bigdunk, followed with a three-point play and added two more baskets. Minter,meanwhile, kept several balls alive underneath and scored on a series ofveteran-looking moves in the low post, once taking a bounce pass throughtraffic from Reynolds for a lay-in.

The Cavaliers built their lead to 72-56 with 3:38 left, but the Mountaineersscored 10 straight points before Virginia ended the run.

Forbes led Virginia with 21 points, Todd Billet had 13, Minter 12, DerrickByars 11 and Elton Brown 10.

Kiel Butler led Mount St. Mary’s with 26, points and Thompson had 18.

The Cavaliers led 39-32 at halftime.