MBB: Cavaliers escape with 60-57 win over Seminoles in home finale

By Scott Ratcliffe

With ACC Tournament seeding on the line in the final regular-season game at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday, Virginia got the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute and hung on for an important 60-57 victory over Florida State.

With the win, the Cavaliers (15-15, 8-11 ACC) moved into a tie with Virginia Tech for ninth place heading into the final weekend of competition before next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

With the game knotted at 55-all, and just after the clock went under a minute to play, Andrew Rohde sank a corner triple with one-tenth of a second showing on the shot clock, putting the Wahoos ahead to stay.

“I’m not really thinking a whole lot in that situation…,” Rohde said with a grin when asked about his thought process prior to letting it fly. “We work on some of those shots before the games and things like that, just those deep corner threes, and yeah, I kind of just tried to put as much arc on it as I could, and it went in.”

After the Seminoles (16-14, 7-12) failed to come up with the equalizer on the other end — Jamir Watkins’ 3-point attempt drew nothing but air and fell out of bounds to UVA — the Hoos again milked as much time off the clock as possible. FSU decided not to foul (with about a 10-second difference from the game clock to the shot clock), and Rohde’s entry pass was nabbed by Justin Thomas and quickly hoisted upcourt to an open Watkins for an easy dunk with 11.8 ticks remaining, cutting it to 58-57 and making it interesting.

After an FSU timeout, Dai Dai Ames was sent to the free-throw line for a one-and-one opportunity, calmly drilling both attempts to put his team back up by three points with 6.1 on the game clock.

The Noles penetrated up the floor, and with a foul to give, Rohde smartly hacked his man (sixth team foul) with 3.3 seconds left before he could get a shot off.

Prior to the ensuing inbounds pass, FSU’s Jerry Deng was called for an illegal screen, giving the ball back to the Cavaliers, who ran out the clock and proceeded to celebrate the much-needed win.

“The group has shown grit, and that’s the one thing… they didn’t fracture down the stretch. They could have,” admitted interim head coach Ron Sanchez. “This is what growth looks like.”

Neither side could gain much separation in the first half, as the Seminoles went into halftime clinging to a 28-27 advantage after Rohde converted a three-point play in the closing minute.

Virginia used an 11-2 run — highlighted by back-to-back 3s by Ames and Rohde, followed up by a diving save-assist from Ames to Elijah Saunders for another 3-ball — to grab its largest lead of the night, 41-33, early in the second half, but Leonard Hamilton’s squad refused to throw in the towel.

The visitors went on an 11-2 spurt of their own moments later — capped by a Taylor Bol Bowen 3-pointer — to temporarily reclaim the lead, 49-47, with 7:07 to play.

After getting popped in the mouth and exiting the contest to change his bloodied jersey (he wore No. 55 when he returned after getting stitches), Saunders responded with a triple in front of the UVA bench to put the Cavaliers back in front.

Later, with the Hoos trailing by three as the clock went under three minutes, Saunders came up with another huge 3-ball in transition to tie it, 53-53.

On the next trip down after FSU scored on an easy open layup, Isaac McKneely scored on a tough drive amongst the trees to knot it back up and set the stage for the exciting conclusion.

It was Hamilton’s final trip to JPJ after decades of roaming the FSU sidelines, and he tipped his cap to the home team for closing strong.

“I think that the University of Virginia maintained their poise down the stretch,” said the future Hall of Famer afterwards as he reflected on all the tough battles with UVA over the years. “They really moved the ball and they made some tough shots… that’s what teams with good shooters do.”

Despite a few lengthy droughts, the Cavaliers shot at a slightly higher clip from the field (40 percent; 21 for 53) than the Seminoles (37 percent; 23 for 62), and connected on 46 percent (11 of 24) from long range (FSU was 7 of 22 from deep; 32 percent).

The Noles edged Virginia on the glass (37-33) and scored 12 points off of 14 UVA turnovers, with the bench outscoring the Hoos, 20-0. Florida State produced 30 points in the paint, another area of concern for the Cavaliers, but couldn’t come away with the win.

Ames led UVA with 18 points (3 for 4 from 3-point land), marking his ninth-straight double-figure outing, while Rohde wasn’t far behind with 17, including a career-best 4 triples. Saunders added 12 points (3 for 4 from deep), while McKneely finished with 9 on 3-of-11 shooting (1 for 6 from downtown). It was only the second time in the last 13 games that he didn’t register 10 points or more.

Blake Buchanan scored just 4 points (2 for 5 FG) on the evening, but led the team in rebounds (8), assists (4) and blocks (3, tying a career high).

Watkins, who had produced 20-plus points in each of his last three games, was the only Seminole in double figures, closing the contest with 18.

Jon Golden Photo Gallery

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• UVA improved to 15-15 overall, 8-11 ACC
• Virginia finished 10-7 at home, posting its 16th consecutive season with 10 or more wins at JPJ
• UVA trailed 28-27 at halftime after allowing 20 points in the paint
• UVA had scoring droughts of 6:08 and 5:11 in the first half
• FSU had a 20-0 advantage in bench points
• Virginia’s starting five scored all of the points for the first time since Nov. 29, 2023 vs. Texas A&M
• UVA has allowed 36 or more points in the paint in each of the last four games
• UVA (11 3-pointers) has made six or more 3-pointers in 28 games
• UVA improved to 8-2 when making 10 or more 3-pointers
• UVA forced one shot clock violation (10 in 2024-25)
• UVA allowed fewer than 60 points for the ninth time (4th in ACC play)

Series Notes

• Virginia is 30-28 all-time vs. Florida State, including an 18-10 mark in Charlottesville, in a series that dates to 1991-92
• UVA has a four-game win streak in the series
• UVA has limited Florida State to fewer than 70 points in 23 of the last 25 meetings
• UVA has outscored Florida State 3,840-3,834 in the 58 games in the series

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Dai Dai Ames (18), Andrew Rohde (17), Elijah Saunders (12)
• Ames reached double figures for the ninth consecutive game and 13th time this season (21 career)
• Rohde registered his highest scoring game at UVA with 17 points
• Rohde reached double figures for the 14th time (45 career)
• Rohde matched a career high with four 3-pointers
• Saunders reached double figures for the 13th time (20 career)
• Blake Buchanan matched a career high with three blocks

UP NEXT

The Hoos will close out the regular season at Syracuse on Saturday night (8 p.m., ACC Network), looking to lock up a first-round bye in next week’s tournament with a win.