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No. 2 Virginia finishes strong to down BC

Jan 17, 2015 - 11:29 PM Chestnut Hill, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Malcolm Brogdon scored 20 points and No. 2 Virginia pulled away late against Boston College to come through with a 66-51 victory over the Eagles.

The Cavaliers' unblemished record was temporarily placed in jeopardy when they trailed 38-33 early in the second half. However, Virginia put together a 13-2 run and dominated the final 14 minutes to prevent the upset bid.

Though Justin Anderson, the Cavs' leading scorer on the season, was held without a field goal, Anthony Gill amassed 11 points and 10 rebounds to help Virginia (17-0, 5-0 ACC) to its first 5-0 start in ACC play since 1980-81. London Perrantes added eight points -- all coming in the second half -- along with six assists.

"All of our guys stepped up and we played great team basketball," Anderson said.

Boston College (8-8, 0-4) remained winless in conference games despite Olivier Hanlan's 18 points and six assists. Patrick Heckmann finished with 15 points for the Eagles.

After falling behind by five after Hanlan scored in transition with under 14 1/2 minutes to play, the Cavaliers got it together from that moment on. Virginia held the Eagles scoreless over the next six-plus minutes while netting 10 consecutive points to move ahead to stay.

Two Hanlan free throws ended Boston College's drought and brought the Eagles within 43-40, but Perrantes knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and Virginia never led by less than four thereafter.

"When you've got five guys out there who can make plays, you're hard to guard," Eagles head coach Jim Christian said of Virginia. "And they're hard to guard."

The Cavs put it away behind an 11-0 surge, which Perrantes began with another triple with less than five minutes remaining, that opened up a 64-48 advantage entering the final minute.

"We all showed a lot of heart, a lot of composure -- even when things weren't going our way to start the game," Anderson remarked.

Boston College trailed 27-24 at intermission before Heckmann led the Eagles on a 10-4 run to begin the second half. The senior guard dropped in seven points during the flurry, the last three coming on a long-distance jumper that snapped a 31-31 tie less than four minutes into the period.

Virginia shot just 37 percent during an inefficient first half in which the teams were tied at 22-22 following a corner 3-pointer from the Eagles' Will Magarity with just over four minutes to go in the frame.

Marial Shayok countered with a trey of his own on the other end to put the Cavs back in front, with the two sides hitting just a pair of free throws each over the remainder of the stanza.

Game Notes

Anderson ended 0-of-8 from the field but went 8-of-9 from the foul line ... Virginia also improved to 6-0 on the road for the first time since the aforementioned 1980-81 campaign, in which the Cavs began the season with a school-record 23-game win streak ... BC's 0-4 start in the ACC is the program's worst in league play since it dropped its first nine Big East games in 1998-99 ... The Cavaliers had lost in four of their previous five visits to Chestnut Hill, with the lone win coming in 2008.