Men's Basketball

Cavs Eye Another Big Game After Taking Down Tigers

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NEW YORK (AP) --
Kyle Guy scored 15 points and No. 1 Virginia advanced to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 64-58 victory over No. 19 Clemson on Friday night.

The top-seeded Cavaliers (30-2) got several crucial plays from role player Jack Salt down the stretch and will face fifth-ranked and second-seeded Duke or 12th-ranked and sixth-seeded North Carolina for the tournament title Saturday night in Brooklyn.

Virginia's only ACC Tournament crowns came in 1976 and 2014.

Shelton Mitchell had 18 points and Elijah Thomas added 15 for the fourth-seeded Tigers (23-9), who remain the lone original member of the ACC that hasn't won the conference tournament. Clemson was trying to reach the finals for only the third time.

Tigers leading scorer Marcquise Reed, who was averaging better than 16 points, was held to six on 2-for-14 shooting by the nation's most suffocating defense. He missed nine of 10 tries from 3-point range.

Virginia built a 14-point lead with 13 minutes remaining and slowed the game down, but Clemson cut the deficit to five with 7:22 left. That's when Salt, a 6-foot-10 junior center from New Zealand who was averaging 3.4 points and 4.1 rebounds, started coming up really big.

After tossing in a baby hook with 8:25 to go, he grabbed an offensive rebound, scored on a turnaround bank shot in the post and followed with another bucket inside at the five-minute mark to make it a nine-point game.

For good measure, he pulled down an important defensive rebound, had a tip-in with 2:02 left to make it 59-51 and then saved a long pass from going out of bounds.

Salt scored all eight of his points and snatched six of his eight rebounds after halftime.

Clemson got within four with 13.4 seconds left, but Devon Hall hit two free throws and Reed missed two shots at the other end as Virginia closed it out.

Clemson executed nicely on offense for the first 10 1/2 minutes and jumped out to a 20-13 lead as Virginia missed eight of its first nine 3-point tries.

But as if they simply flipped a switch - and turned the lights out on Clemson - the Cavaliers clamped down and held the Tigers to 0-for-10 shooting the rest of the first half. UVA fans roared their appreciation of the defensive effort, and at the other end Guy scored eight points as Virginia hit seven of eight shots in a 16-0 spurt.

Three free throws by Mitchell with 1:07 remaining snapped Clemson's scoring drought, and the Cavs went into halftime with a 32-23 advantage.

#ACCTourney Notes
The No. 1 seeded Cavaliers (30-2) advance to Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. championship game versus the winner of Friday night’s second semifinal between No. 2 seed Duke (26-6) and No. 6 seed North Carolina (24-9) … Virginia won 65-63 at Duke on Jan. 27 and defeated UNC 61-49 on Jan. 6 in Charlottesville.

Virginia is now 40-62 all-time in the ACC Tournament and has reached the championship game for the ninth time … The Cavaliers will be going for their third ACC Tournament title on Saturday night and their second in the last five years under head coach Tony Bennett … Virginia won the ACC Tournament title as the No. 6 seed in 1976 and as the No. 1 seed in 2014.

The Cavaliers are 9-14 all-time in ACC Tournament semifinal games.

Clemson (23-9) slipped to 20-65 all-time in ACC Tournament play and to 2-11 in semifinal games.

The No. 1 seed is now 23-11 all-time versus the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament.

The 30-win season is the fourth in Virginia program history.

Virginia is now 4-1 this season versus nationally ranked opponents this season, including two wins over Clemson.

The Cavaliers are 7-1 all-time at Barclays Center.

Virginia limited its 31st opponent of the season to less than 50 percent shooting from the floor (Clemson shot 34.7 percent) and held the opposing team to under 60 points for the 24th time.

Virginia held Clemson without a field goal and to three total points in the final 9:32 of the opening half, turning a 20-15 deficit into a 32-23 lead at the break.

All-ACC first-teamer Kyle Guy led Virginia’s scoring with 15 points and went 3-for-7 from 3-point range … Guy has reached double-figures in 26 games and has connected on 81 shots from 3-point range this season.

Virginia sophomore guard Ty Jerome handed out a career-high 10 assists and continues to lead the Cavaliers with 4.0 assists per game.

Virginia senior Devon Hall (10 points) reached double figures for the 22nd time this year.

The Cavaliers’ Mamadi Diakite (10 points) has scored nine or more points in four of the last five games.

With 18 points, Clemson redshirt junior Shelton Mitchell posted his 23rd double-scoring game of the season and his second of this year’s ACC Tournament … Mitchell has averaged 19.5 points in four career ACC Tournament games.

With 15 points, the Tigers’ Elijah Thomas reached double-figures in scoring for the 19th time this season.

 

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