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Aug. 8, 2012

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European Trip BlogVideo Highlights

ALMERE, The Netherlands – The Virginia men’s basketball team opened its five-game tour of Europe with an 89-62 victory over the Netherlands B Team at the Topsportcentrum in the Amsterdam suburb of Almere. The Cavaliers had four players score in doubles figures, including three first-years, as they pulled away in the second half from the Dutch side.

First-year Mike Tobey (Monroe, N.Y.) led the Cavaliers with 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Fellow first-year Justin Anderson (Montross, Va.) came off the bench to score 15 points while classmate Evan Nolte (Milton, Ga.) scored 13 points. Junior Joe Harris (Chelan, Wash.) led the Virginia veterans with 12 points and junior Akil Mitchell (Charlotte, N.C.) secured a team-high seven rebounds, while also adding eight points. Senior Jontel Evans (Hampton, Va.) led the team with 11 assists.

“It was good experience to play this game,” said head coach Tony Bennett. “I just tell the guys, whatever the situation is, it’s about us playing against the game and learning how to compete and play together. I saw some nice things. It is hard to evaluate in a game like that, but there were good opportunities for a lot of guys. This team (Netherlands B) is supposed to have a few more guys joining them and hopefully they will tomorrow. But again, it was a good opportunity, and it was great to get out there and play after a great day, seeing some amazing things.”

The Cavaliers opened the game strong, taking a 25-9 lead after the first 10-minute period. Virginia held a 10-6 advantage after four minutes before going on a 15-3 run to end the period, highlighted by fast break dunks by Anderson and Darion Atkins.

Virginia extended the lead to 39-21 with four minutes to play in the first half as Nolte hit back-to-back three-pointers. However, the Dutch rallied with a 13-4 run to close out the half and cut the Cavalier advantage to 43-34 at the break. Tobey and Nolte each had eight first half points to lead Virginia.

The third quarter opened with the Cavaliers going on a 16-2 run to gain control of the game. Harris scored 10 of his 12 points during that run, including back-to-back 3-pointers. Virginia led by 19 points, 69-50, after three periods.

Virginia outscored the Dutch 20-12 in the final period, which saw several Cavaliers pick up their first basket of the game. Thomas Rogers (Farmville, Va.) hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Doug Browman (Midlothian, Va.) and Justin Miller (Columbia, Mo.) had layups in the final minutes.

All 14 players on the roster played in the game for Virginia, and 11 of them scored.

Craig Osaikhwuwuomwam led the Netherlands B Team with a game-high 21 points and Kenrick Zondervan added 14 points.

The teams will meet again on Thursday at the Topsportcentrum in Almere. Game time is 4 p.m.

VIRGINIA 89, NETHERLANDS B 62

Virginia		25	18	26	20	-	89Netherlands B		9	25 	16	12	-	62

Virginia Scoring Netherlands B ScoringTobey (C) 18 (6 reb) Osaikhwuwuomwam (F) 21Nolte (F) 13 (3 reb) Zondervan (F) 14Harris (G) 12 (4 reb) Mladenovic (G) 5Mitchell (F) 8 (7 reb) Kloos (G) 3Evans (G) 2 (11 asst) Besseling (G) 1–Anderson 15 (1 reb) Robinson 5Atkins 9 (3 reb) Padberg 4Jesperson 5 (4 reb) Ridderhof 3Rogers 3 (1 reb) van Vught 3Browman 2 van Schaik 3Miller 2 (1 reb) Lietmeijer 0Jones 0Barnette 0 (1 reb)Kirven 0 (1 reb)

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