Virginia Squanders Late Lead, Falls to NC State in Overtime Heartbreaker

Michael O'Connell hit a buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime, where the Wolfpack ultimately sent the Cavaliers home from the ACC Tournament with a heartbreaking loss

Virginia (23-10) bowed out of the ACC Tournament in the most painful, heartbreaking fashion, as the Cavaliers squandered a six-point lead with less than a minute to go in regulation, gave up a buzzer-beater to tie the game for the second night in a row, and ultimately suffered a 73-65 loss to No. 10 seed NC State (21-14) in the semifinals of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. 

NC State led for most of the first half behind a surprising 10-point burst from Ben Middlebrooks, but Reece Beekman came on strong late in the half, scoring 10 points and dishing out four assists to help the Cavaliers take the lead. Michael O'Connell made a driving layup just before time expired to tie the game at 29-29 going into halftime, a play that would serve as foreshadowing for the heroic shot he would make roughly an hour later. 

The game continued to be a grinding, physical, back-and-forth affair for most of the second half, symbolized by the several clashes between DJ Burns and Jordan Minor in the paint that more resembled rugby than basketball. Virginia seized control on a flurry of jump shots by Isaac McKneely and Taine Murray, who were responsible for 16-straight points for the Cavaliers, including an 11-2 run that gave UVA a 53-46 lead with a little over four minutes to go. 

Burns scored twice to get NC State back within three, but Reece Beekman managed to give Virginia some breathing room again, driving baseline for a dunk and then knocking down a free throw to give the Cavaliers a 58-52 lead with 51 seconds remaining. Ryan Dunn fouled Casey Morsell on a three-pointer and he made all three free throws. NC State got a stop, but failed to convert on its attempt to tie the game. 

That should have sealed the win for the Cavaliers, but the charity stripe proved once again to be anything but generous to Virginia, as McKneely missed the front end of the one-and-one to give NC State another chance with five seconds left. Rather than committing a foul to prevent the Wolfpack from getting a look at tying the game, the Cavaliers opted to play it straight-up and it cost them. Michael O'Connell got a deep, but relatively uncontested look from beyond the arc and banked it in off the glass as time expired to send the game to overtime. 

Here's what Tony Bennett said about the decision not to foul up three with less than five seconds remaining: 

"The three they hit, that was a tough shot that he hit. We couldn't foul him in the backcourt. They got momentum because we missed the free throw and they were coming down, and once they got down we did not want to foul in the act of shooting. We just were worried about that. We were worried about maybe if they make a free throw and then a miss with Burns and those guys on the free throw rebounding. But we just decided, let's make them earn on that stuff. Again, we fouled a three-point shooter before, and that hurt in a couple of those live ball turnovers.

Again, we were in that spot. We didn't have to be. Obviously we had some chances to win it, but that was the thought process. We were going to stop them with their defense, we're going to get it done, we're going to knock them down at the line and make it a two-possession game." 

On Thursday night, Virginia managed to regain its composure after giving up a similar game-tying buzzer-beater to Mason Madsen and recovered to beat Boston College in overtime. That wasn't the case this time around, as DJ Burns went to work and scored three times, the third of which was a three-point play. O'Connell followed that up with a layup to extend the NC State lead to 69-65. Virginia failed to convert on its three-point attempts to get back into the game and NC State pulled away for a 73-65 win. 

The defeat will overshadow a pair of tremendous individual performances from Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely. Beekman had 17 points, 11 assists, four rebounds, and two steals as he played more than 40 minutes for the second game in a row. Many of those assists went to McKneely, who knocked down five threes and scored 23 points. 

But those performances ultimately came in a losing effort as missed free throws - Virginia went 6/11 from the charity stripe, but four of those misses came with less than 90 seconds remaining - finally and inevitably doomed the Cavaliers. 

"Nobody gets up there, we're not trying to miss them. It's not like we don't work at them," Bennett said of his team's free throw shooting struggles. "You step to the line, and that's what it is. Certainly we played well enough, and that hurt us, and hopefully we get a chance to keep playing, and we'll knock them down when the next opportunity comes."

NC State moves on to face No. 1 seed North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday, an opportunity to win a fifth game in as many days and steal the ACC's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. 

Meanwhile, Virginia will return to Charlottesville and hope that enough has been done to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Ironically, the Cavaliers' first "close" loss of the season - each of their other nine defeats have come by at least 10 points - could be the one that knocks them out of the NCAA Tournament. And it could very well be NC State that steals the spot from Virginia if the Wolfpack can pull the upset over the Tar Heels on Saturday. 

UVA will be rooting against NC State and other bid-stealers around college basketball and against the other Bubble teams still in contention in their respective conference tournaments. Virginia will learn its postseason fate on Selection Sunday, as the NCAA Tournament field will be unveiled at 6pm on Sunday. 

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