For too much of Thursday's contest, Virginia appeared as if it was destined to end up on the wrong side of an unfavorable result. Bethune-Cookman, a popular buy-game opponent for power-conference teams — the Wildcats have already played at Texas Tech, Nebraska and Minnesota and have other road games still to come at West Virginia and Mississippi State — led for the duration for the opening half against the Hoos and were up a possession with about 10 minutes to play. Virginia 59, Bethune-Cookman 41 Non-conference matchup Key stretch: The Cavaliers used a 12-0 run in the second half to pull ahead of the Wildcats for good.
But the Cavaliers rallied with a 12-0 run on the way to a 59-41 victory to survive Bethune-Cookman and fend off its upset bid. "It's finals week," UVa interim coach Ron Sanchez said afterward about his team. "And I think some of [the players] were still studying when they were sitting on the bench today, or at least they looked that way.
But winning is hard." UVa forward Elijah Saunders, a transfer from San Diego State, led the Hoos with 15 points and eight rebounds, while freshman guard Ishan Sharma chipped in with 12 points to help the Cavaliers improve to 6-4 overall. Bethune-Cookman dropped to 2-7.
Here are three takeaways from UVa's win over the Wildcats. Late run propels the Hoos Sharma's fourth 3 of the night broke a tie and fellow guard Andrew Rohde's old-fashioned threepoint play that followed extended UVa's lead to 43-37 with 8:37 to play. Both t.
