UVa leads BC at the half

by Whitey Reid on January 26th, 2012

Virginia leads Boston College 31-23 at the half here at JPJ.

Virginia got off to a slow start. BC, which entered the game as one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, scored when Ryan Anderson tipped in his own miss, and then hit a 3-pointer to take an early 7-2 lead.

UVa, with freshmen Darion Atkins, Paul Jesperson and Malcolm Brogdon on the court, took a 12-11 lead after two free throws from Atkins, a pretty lefty drive by Brogdon and a floater by Joe Harris.

Virginia started to find its groove about midway through the half. Akil Mitchell, who was making his second start of the season in place of the injured Assane Sene, ignited a 12-4 surge. First, he had a nice post move in the lane. Then the sophomore took a nifty pass from Jontel Evans along the baseline and scored on a reverse. On the Cavaliers’ next offensive possession, Mitchell penetrated the lane and set up Mike Scott for a 17-foot jumper.

Sammy Zeglinski, who had been just 4 of 23 in his last three games, capped the run with a floater—his first basket since the Georgia Tech Tech game—to put Virginia up 24-18.

Mike Scott scored two baskets in the final two-plus minutes—the first coming on a layup following a steal by Zeglinski and nice pass from Evans.

Zeglinski showed his perseverance in the final minute. Seconds after turning the ball over, he stole the ball back from BC’s Dennis Clifford. As fans in the student section chanted “Sammy Z!” he then set up up Harris for a 3-pointer that gave Virginia a 31-23 lead at the break.

Virginia shot 50 percent from the field in the half (14 of 28) and held BC to 39 percent and forced the Eagles into nine turnovers.

Scott leads the way with 10 points.

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