Balanced Scoring Leads Virginia Over Boston College
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Four players of Virginia’s seven-man rotation scored in double figures to lead the Cavaliers (13-9, 7-5 ACC) to victory, 67-55, over Boston College (9-12, 4-7 ACC) at John Paul Jones Arena Tuesday night.
Kihei Clark (19 points), Jayden Gardner (17 points), Kadin Shedrick (13 points) and Armaan Franklin (12 points) combined to score 61 points as the Cavaliers improved to 8-5 at home on the season. As a team, Virginia shot 90 percent (26-29 FT) from the charity stripe, setting a season high in free throws made.
Virginia was also efficient defensively, holding the Eagles to just 24 percent from behind the arc on 21 attempts. The Cavaliers forced 14 BC turnovers, which resulted in 20 points for the Hoos.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia led 30-25 at halftime after Clark hit a floater along the baseline as time expired. The Eagles led for the first 10:23 seconds of the contest before an 11-3 run gave UVA its first lead of the game. The Cavaliers forced eight turnovers, which converted into 15 UVA points. Of those eight turnovers, half were steals, including Reece Beekman’s first of two steals of the contest, which extended his steal streak to 12 consecutive games. Although he was just 1-for-5 from the field in the first half, Gardner led all Virginia scorers with eight points after making all six of his attempts at the line. Franklin had seven points at intermission on 3-of-5 shooting, but was forced to sit the final 5:55 of the half after picking up his second foul. For the half, the Cavaliers shot 44 percent from the field while BC shot 41 percent from the field, but the Eagles struggled to shoot from 3-point range. Boston College connected on 3 of their 11 attempts in the first half, two of which were tightly contested by the Cavaliers as the shot clock expired.
Coming out of the break, Virginia opened the second half by scoring first six points, which ultimately sparked a 12-2 run. The Cavaliers held BC to without a field goal for the first 5:40 of the second half as UVA stretched its lead to 42-27 – which tied for their largest lead of the game – at the 14:41 mark. The Eagles would cut their deficit to as a little as eight points with under 1:00 to play, but Clark made all four of his free throw attempts in the waning seconds of regulation to keep the game out of the BC’s reach.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO:
Kihei Clark. Clark poured in a game-high 19 points – also his season high – including 14 points in the second half. He was 4-of-7 from the field and made all 10 of his attempts at the line, setting a career high. Clark also chipped in six rebounds. Clark has now scored in double figures in UVA’s last three games.
UP NEXT
Virginia hosts Miami (16-5, 8-2 ACC) in ACC action on Saturday, Feb. 5. Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 5 p.m. on ACC Network