No. 21 Virginia overcomes free-throw woes to beat Wake Forest

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Reece Beekman scored 20 points and No. 21 Virginia overcame poor free-throw shooting to beat Wake Forest 49-47 on Saturday.

The Cavaliers (20-6, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) also got 12 points from Isaac McKneely. He scored their only made free throw on their 11th and final attempt.

Ryan Dunn added six points, nine rebounds and seven of Virginia's 13 blocks.

Hunter Sallis led the Demon Deacons (16-9, 8-6) with 12 points and Efton Reid III scored 10. Wake Forest was denied a season sweep of the Cavaliers.

The defensive battle featured long scoreless stretches for both teams.

The Cavaliers used a 10-2 run to open their largest lead at 41-34 with 9:14 left, but then went scoreless for nearly four minutes as the Deacons closed to within 41-39.

It was 43-42 when Beekman fed McKneely in the corner for his only 3-pointer of the game, stretching the lead to 46-42, but both teams failed to score for more than 2 1/2 minutes before Cameron Hildreth's powerful layup pulled the Deacons to within 46-44 with 1:07 to play.

Blake Buchanan's putback with 39.6 seconds left doubled the Cavaliers' lead, but he missed an ensuing free throw. Virginia secured the rebound and Dunn was fouled, but he then missed the front end of a one-and-one. Beekman and McKneely later missed from the free-throw line, leaving the Cavaliers 0-for-10 before McKneely made the second of a pair with 6.7 seconds left to raucous cheers from the crowd.

BIG PICTURE

Wake Forest: Four of the Demon Deacons' five starters average in double figures. The only one who doesn't, Reid, was the first to reach double figures on a layup with 8:21 remaining.

Virginia: The Cavaliers shot just 28.1% (16-57) in their 66-47 loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 13, but appeared to have solved the Demon Deacons' defense when they made their first five shots in the rematch. They missed nine of their next 10 and managed only two points over a period of more than 10 minutes.

UP NEXT

Wake Forest: Hosts Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Virginia: Visits Virginia Tech on Monday night.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball