Box Score CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—The No.9 Virginia Cavaliers handed South Carolina State their third loss of the season in a 75-55 victory over the Bulldogs Tuesday at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Bulldogs (0-3) were led by sophomore walk-on
Karon Wright with 15 points, all coming on 3-pointers in the second half. Sophomore guard
Greg Mortimer added 10 points and junior
Gabe McCray nine, but the team shot just 32.8 percent (19-58).
UVA finished with four players in double figures with junior guard Justin Anderson and redshirt junior Malcolm Brodgon both finishing with a game-high 17 points each. Junior forward Anthony Gill added 11 and grabbed eight rebounds, while junior center Mikey Tobey chipped in 10 in the win.
The Cavaliers (3-0) began to put away the game at the midpoint of the first half. They led 19-14 until a driving basket by Brogdon sparked the big run to finish the half. Brogdon had eight points in the run, and Anderson and Gill scored five each.
The second half was more of the same except for the emergence of Wright for the Bulldogs. He hit his first three 3-pointers in a span of 2 1/2 minutes early in the half the last one pulling South Carolina State to within 48-29 with 17:07 to play. They got no closer, but did leave having scored more against Virginia than either previous opponent had this season.
The Cavaliers remain undefeated on the season at 3-0 and lead the series 2-0 between the two teams, while South Carolina State falls to 0-3.
"We competed for 40 minutes with the No. 9 team in the country," South Carolina State coach
Murray Garvin said. "I can coach that and we can build off that. ... It wasn't a walk in the park for (Virginia), so I can build off this."
GAME NOTE: SOUTH CAROLINA STATE: The Bulldogs committed only six turnovers to 12 for Virginia, and outscored the Cavaliers 15-4 off takeaways. ... The Bulldogs won the second half, 35-34. ... The Bulldogs were playing two nights after wrapping up a two-game trip to the west coast on which they lost 77-59 at Washington on Friday and 91-52 at San Francisco on Sunday.
