UVA Advances To Battle 4 Atlantis Title Game With 66-59 Win Against Dayton
Posted on Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, 12:15 am
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Virginia second-year forward De’Andre Hunter tied a career-high with 23 points — including a dagger 3-pointer in the waning moments — to lead the 4th-ranked Cavaliers to a 66-59 win over Dayton Thursday in the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Wahoos (5-0) will go up against their first ranked opponent of the season for the tournament title in the Bahamas Friday, No. 25 Wisconsin (5-0), which cruised past Oklahoma in Thursday’s first semifinal.
The Cavaliers trailed 7-0 out of the gate, misfiring on their first seven shots until Kyle Guy nailed a triple, and proceeded to chip away at the early deficit.
UVA took its first lead, 18-17, with 6 minutes left in the first half on a Hunter bucket. Freshman guard Kihei Clark hit his second 3 of the half with 1:30 remaining, and Guy followed with a jumper off a Braxton Key assist to extend the lead to seven.
The ‘Hoos went to the locker room with a five-point cushion despite shooting just 37 percent (10 for 27 FG) and 3 for 10 from downtown.
Jack Salt gave Virginia its largest lead, 39-30, with 14:29 remaining, but the Flyers (4-1) would not go quietly. Dayton got within four points on seven different occasions over the remainder of the contest, including cutting the UVA lead to 60-56 with 1:32 to go on an Obadiah Toppin jam, setting the stage for Hunter’s late heroics.
With the shot clock winding down, Hunter caught the rock, dribbled once and sank one from beyond the arc with 53 ticks showing, pushing the advantage back to three possessions.
UVA shot 43 percent (21-49) for the game, 7 for 20 (35 percent) from deep. The ‘Hoos won the battle of the boards, 30-27, with Hunter and Key each hauling down six rebounds to lead the team. Five of Hunter’s rebounds came on the offensive end.
Ty Jerome was held scoreless in the first half but wound up with 15 points, sinking 7 of his 10 free-throw attempts, while Guy added 14 points and three boards.
Clark tied a career best with his 9 points to go with a career-high 5 rebounds and a pair of assists, while Key only had 3 points (1-6 FG) but added the six boards, four steals and two dimes in 33 minutes.
Mamadi Diakite started again but played just eight minutes and did not score. Salt had 2 points and four rebounds while picking up four fouls in 20 minutes off the bench.
Dayton was led by Josh Cunningham’s 15 points, while Toppin had 13 and Jalen Crutcher added 11.
The ‘Hoos and Badgers will tip off at 2 p.m. on ESPN, so UVA fans may very well be flipping back and forth between hoops and the Virginia Tech football game on ABC, which kicks off at 3:30.
