Dallin Hall made all eight of his shots and scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half as No. 23 Virginia overcame an ugly start to pull away from Maryland in a 80-72 victory Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
Jacari White contributed 12 of his 15 points after intermission as the Cavaliers (10-1) won their fifth straight.
Showing rust in the first half after a 10-day layoff, Virginia missed 18 of 19 shots during one stretch and fell behind by eight points before finding its touch.
After shooting 27.3% and missing 8 of 9 shots from 3-point range in the first half, the Cavaliers rebounded with 63.6% shooting after the break, making 6 of 11 (54.5%) attempts from deep.
Virginia excelled on the defensive end, forcing 19 turnovers and holding the Terrapins to 40.7% shooting.
Chance Mallory led the Cavaliers defense with five steals. He also had six points and six assists off the Virginia bench.
David Coit scored all 15 of his points in the second half to pace Maryland (6-6), which lost for the fifth time in its last six games, with four of the defeats coming against ranked teams.
The Terrapins were without top scorer and rebounder Pharrel Payne, who was sidelined by a leg injury.
After scoring the game’s first seven points, Virginia went stone cold. During a stretch of nearly 12 minutes, the Cavaliers made just one field goal, allowing the Terrapins to go on a 19-4 run.
Myles Rice (12 points) triggered the surge with a jumper and a 3-pointer. Solomon Washington (nine points, 12 rebounds) added six points in the spree which gave Maryland a 19-11 lead.
But over the final 3:42 of the first half, Virginia reeled off 13 straight points. Devin Tillis (10 points) broke the Cavaliers’ drought with a jumper and added another basket.
Johann Grunloh added two dunks in the run, including a buzzer-beating putback, which gave Virginia a 24-19 lead at the break.
Maryland regained the lead on one occasion in the second half as Coit made a pair of free throws to make it 35-33 with 14:43 left.
The Cavaliers responded with a 15-2 run highlighted by White as he made a pair of 3-pointers and a sensational driving slam. going end-to-end through the Terrapins defense.
The burst put Virginia up 48-37 with 11:08 left. The lead was never smaller than six points the rest of the way.
– Field Level Media
