Greensboro, NC – Reese Beckman hit a 3-pointer in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday as time ran out to help No. 16 Virginia Edge Syracuse 72-69.
Beckman didn’t hit a shot all day, but with the horn sounding, Kiddy buried 3 from Clark’s feed in the right wing. This led Beckman to a quick retreat with his teammates to the other end of the court and chased him immediately before he gathered near a distant baseline to celebrate with him.
This shot helped the top-ranked Cavaliers (18-6) to win, trailing Syracuse’s Buddy Bohem by 11 runs in the first half.
Sam Hauser scored 21 points to help Virginia win, scoring 4 of 5 to close the game in the final 5 1/2 minutes.
Eighth-ranked Orange (16-9) finished with a career-high 31 points a day after Bohemia scored 27 points in the opener of the Syracuse tournament. He led Orange to almost his second win to help his NCAA tournament chances, scoring 11 of Syracuse’s last 13 points.
After Beckman fell, Bohem stood near the midcourt, his hands on his knees in disbelief, while team-mate Quincy Gerrier sat a few feet down.
Big picture:
Syracuse: Orange entered near the cut line in most NCAA estimates, although Wednesday’s victory over fellow bubble team North Carolina State helped in that case. After that, Boehme said he thinks Orange has “done what he has to do this year” but wait and see with Caviat. Winning this would probably have dispelled all doubts on that front.
Virginia: The Cavaliers beat Louisville to win the regular-season race after losing to Florida State No. 15 at Notre Dame on the final day of the schedule. The Cavaliers got their first seeded seed for the fifth time in eight seasons as they won their third tournament title under Tony Bennett. Hoser was big in this one and Trey Murphy III (15 points) was too big 3s late, although Beckman was the hero of the day.
Now the next
Syracuse: The orange selection awaits the fate of their NCAA tournament on Sunday.
Virginia: The Cavaliers advanced to the semifinals on Friday to face the Miami-Georgia Tech winner.
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