Virginia Survives Nail-Biter, Holds Off West Virginia 56-54 in Fort Myers

Reece Beekman made the game-winning free throw and Ryan Dunn grabbed the game-sealing offensive rebound to help the Cavaliers get back in the win column

Poor rebounding, and in particular an inability to keep their opponent off the offensive glass, nearly doomed the Cavaliers to an 0-2 showing in two games at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. So there was a sense of irony when it was a couple of huge offensive rebounds that ended up saving Virginia from that winless fate. 

With the score tied and the game clock dwindling, Leon Bond III snatched an offensive rebound to give UVA another chance to win the game. Reece Beekman drew a foul and made the game-winning free throw with 2.3 seconds remaining and Ryan Dunn grabbed the clutch game-sealing offensive board on the second foul shot to help Virginia (5-1) get back in the win column with a nail-biting, but much-needed 56-54 victory over West Virginia (2-3) in the consolation game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday night. 

Virginia's offensive woes from Monday's loss to Wisconsin continued at the start of Wednesday's game, but it was a rough shooting start for both teams, who failed to convert on each of their first five possessions. A Reece Beekman steal led to the first basket of the game on a layup from Jordan Minor just shy of four full minutes into the contest. 

Both teams started to wake up offensively after the first media timeout. Naturally, it was the Mountaineers' forward tandem of Jesse Edwards and Quinn Slazinski, seemingly built to expose UVA's front court weaknesses, who were responsible for nearly all of West Virginia's offense - 21 of WVU's 23 first-half points in fact. Leon Bond III gave Virginia a spark off the bench with four early points and then Isaac McKneely scored five-straight, including a smooth catch-and-shoot three to give Virginia a 14-10 lead. 

UVA followed that up with a lengthy scoring drought, though, allowing West Virginia to climb back in front, eventually grabbing a 23-21 lead late in the first half. Virginia finished strong, ending the half on a 5-0 run thanks to a deep three from McKneely and a putback layup from Bond to give UVA a 26-23 halftime lead. McKneely had eight points in the first half, including two threes, but the rest of the Cavaliers were just 1/8 from beyond the arc. West Virginia outrebounded Virginia 23-13 in the first half, including an 8-2 advantage in offensive rebounds. UVA scored 12 points off of 10 WVU turnovers, including six Cavalier steals. 

Virginia ratcheted up its defensive intensity in the second half, forcing more difficult shots and marginally improving its defensive rebounding. UVA forced two West Virginia shot-clock violations and held the Mountaineers without a field goal for six minutes and 22 seconds, allowing the Cavaliers to gradually build their largest lead at 36-26. That lead could have been larger, but Virginia was ice-cold from beyond the arc, going 1/7 from three in the second half and 4/18 (22.2%) for the game. 

While it was West Virginia's front court that did the bulk of the scoring in the first half, the Mountaineers rallied in the second half behind a perimeter shooting explosion from their back court. Seth Wilson came off the bench and knocked down back-to-back threes and then Kobe Johnson splashed another three to round out a 9-0 run that put West Virginia back in front. 

Beekman hit a jumper in the paint and then Jake Groves gave UVA a 45-42 lead with a corner three, Virginia's only three-pointer of the second half. Then came a chippy sequence as Isaac McKneely was fouled by Ofri Naveh, who gave McKneely some extra hits on the arm to make sure he couldn't do anything with the ball. McKneely retaliated with a little push and Quinn Slazinski, who had been jawing with Virginia all game, came over and roughly slapped the ball out of McKneely's hands. McKneely retorted with another push and Slazinski embellished by flailing backwards. The refs rightfully assessed offsetting technicals to both McKneely and Slazinski and then, after a lengthy review, ejected multiple players from UVA's bench for leaving the bench area during the altercation. We never received official names as to who was ejected, but the empty seats were at the end of Virginia's bench - so it was most likely walk-ons Tristan How and Bryce Walker. 

After that situation was sorted out, Slazinski proceeded to knock down what was probably a very satisfying three-pointer to tie the game at 47-47 with six minutes to play. A few possessions later, Beekman threw the ball away and Kobe Johnson capitalized with an easy transition layup to put WVU in front. 

Ryan Dunn worked the pick and roll with Andrew Rohde and scored a reverse layup plus a foul, completing the three-point play to give Virginia the lead and Beekman followed that up with a turnaround jumper and UVA led 50-47. 

Dunn nearly came up with a steal, but West Virginia saved it and eventually took a 51-50 lead on another three-pointer from Seth Wilson. Beekman responded with an aggressive layup, gliding to the rim past Jesse Edwards, who was playing passively with four fouls. Dunn used a sweet spin move to score off the glass, pushing UVA's lead back to three points, but he then fouled Slazinski on a three-pointer, and he made all three free throws to tie the game at 54-54 with 36 seconds left.

Virginia ran the clock down and then worked the ball around to Dunn, who missed his open three-point attempt from the right wing, but Leon Bond III skied and grabbed the ball for a key offensive rebound. Beekman cashed in on the extra possession, attacking the paint and drawing a foul on Slazinski with 2.3 seconds remaining. 

Beekman made the first foul shot to give Virginia the lead and then missed the second, but the rebound bounced perfectly to Ryan Dunn, who snatched it over Edwards to seal the game, as he was fouled with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Dunn made the first free throw to make it 56-54 and then missed the second, possibly intentionally. West Virginia didn't have enough time to attempt a half-court heave after the miss and it fell well-short anyway. 

Ryan Dunn led the Cavaliers with 13 points on 5/11 shooting and also had five rebounds, two steals, and a block. Reece Beekman came up with some big plays late and finished with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Isaac McKneely and Leon Bond III had eight points apiece and Bond had seven rebounds, including the key offensive board that lead to the game-winning foul and free throw for Beekman. 

Virginia's pair of performances in Fort Myers did not exactly inspire confidence, instead exposing the team's significant issues with shooting and defensive rebounding. But the Cavaliers managed to win at least one of the two games despite shooting a combined 8/42 from three and getting outrebounded 89-49 across the two matchups. And at the end of the day, a win is a win. 

Virginia returns to Charlottesville with plenty to work on and one full week to make those improvements before hosting No. 12 Texas A&M in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge next Wednesday at 7:15pm at John Paul Jones Arena. 

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