No. 4 Virginia Holds Off No. 25 Wisconsin To Win Battle 4 Atlantis

Posted on Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, 8:05 pm

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For the sixth year in a row, Virginia’s men’s basketball team hoisted a holiday tournament championship trophy, as the fourth-ranked Cavaliers (6-0) held off No. 25 Wisconsin, 53-46, in the Battle 4 Atlantis title in Nassau, Bahamas.

Tournament MVP De’Andre Hunter led the way with 20 points and 9 rebounds, as the Wahoos withstood a late push by Ethan Happ and the Badgers to remain unbeaten.

Tied at 4-4 early on, UVA scored nine unanswered points and never looked back, despite a couple of long scoring droughts.

Hunter put home an easy stickback off a Kihei Clark missed jumper to give the Wahoos a 15-6 lead with 12:42 to go. Wisconsin (5-1) scored six straight to cut it to three before Mamadi Diakite scored off of a Kyle Guy assist to end a scoreless streak of nearly five minutes.

Happ, who came in averaging a double-double, picked up his second personal with five minutes left in the half, and the ‘Hoos closed on a 12-2 run — capped by a Ty Jerome buzzer-beating shot over Happ — to lead 33-18 at the half.

Guy and Jerome nailed consecutive triples from opposite corners to jumpstart the spurt.

Wisconsin started the second half with an 11-3 run of its own to get back within seven, 36-29, as again Virginia didn’t get a field goal to drop for a five-minute span until Diakite sank a baseline jumper to beat the shot clock.

Leading by eight, Hunter scored on a baseline drive and then again on a nifty spin move in the lane with 4:34 to go, putting UVA ahead by nine.

Happ and Brad Davison scored on back-to-back trips to pull the Badgers to within five, 47-42, with 3:31 left.

The teams traded buckets and it was 51-46 after Happ scored underneath with 1:12 remaining. On the Cavaliers’ ensuing possession, Jerome ran the shot clock down and misfired on a jumpshot with 30 ticks showing, but Salt was there to tap it back out to Guy, who hit the front end of a one-and-one but missed the second.

The Badgers coughed it up into the hands of Jerome, who passed over to Hunter and he also split a pair of freebies with 16 seconds left for the final result.

Happ posted game highs of 22 points (11 for 19 FG), 15 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with 6 assists, while the ‘Hoos held D’Mitrik Trice to a season-low 5 points on 2-of-9 shooting (0 for 2 from beyond the arc a day after he sank a career-high 7 triples), 14 points below his average.

The Badgers were 21 for 48 for 44 percent from the field, and just 2 of 11 from downtown, committing 13 turnovers.

Virginia shot just 37 percent (20 for 54) for the game and 24 percent (4 for 17) from long range, and were edged on the boards, 33-31.

Jerome, who joined Hunter on the All-Tournament Team, filled the stat sheet with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Guy added 9 points, 3 boards and 3 dimes.

In his first career start, Clark chipped in with 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 thefts. Salt was also back in the starting five after three games either not playing or coming off the bench, finishing with 2 points and 5 rebounds. Diakite had 6 points and 2 boards.

The Wahoos have now won a nation-best 24 straight in the month of November, and will shoot for 25 in a row as they travel to College Park Wednesday night to take on former league rival Maryland as part of the ACC/B1G Challenge on ESPN at 7:30 p.m.