Field Level Media
Mar 1, 2021
Sam Hauser scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds to help host Virginia snap a three-game losing streak with a 62-51 victory over Miami on Monday night at Charlottesville.
The No. 21 Cavaliers (16-6, 12-4 ACC) shook off a late comeback effort by the Hurricanes (7-16, 3-15), and still have a chance to overtake conference-leading Florida State with time running out in the regular season.
Virginia is scheduled to finish the regular season Saturday at Louisville and would need a win and a Florida State loss in one of the Seminoles' final two games to claim the top seed in next week's ACC tournament.
Shorthanded Miami lost its sixth consecutive game and dropped to 1-10 since Jan. 19. Kameron McGusty led the Hurricanes with 14 points and five rebounds, while Elijah Olaniyi totaled 12 points and six rebounds.
Miami's Isaiah Wong, who scored 29 and 28 points respectively in his past two games and was averaging 19.1 points over his previous 11, was held to only 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting.
Wong did, however, pull Miami to within six points at 55-49 with 3:07 remaining. But a Reece Beekman layup at the other end was followed by a Hauser 3-pointer and Virginia's 60-49 advantage with 1:33 remaining squashed Miami's hopes.
Hauser was one of four seniors honored in Virginia's regular season home finale along with Jay Huff, Tomas Woldetensae, who started on Monday, and Austin Katstra. Huff finished with seven points and seven rebounds.
Trey Murphy III had 12 points, six rebounds and three steals for the Cavaliers, while Kihei Clark had five assists.
Miami was hanging tough by attacking the rim and scored 18 points in the paint in the first half. But the Cavaliers held their own in the second half thanks to Justin McKoy's tough defense as well as his eight points and six rebounds in the game.
Virginia went on a 14-2 run to finish the first half after a McGusty layup with 4:11 to go gave Miami a 28-27 lead. Despite shooting 3-for-13 from 3-point range in the second half, the Cavaliers never trailed again and led by as many as 13 points after halftime.
--Field Level Media