Virginia's Win Over Duke A Snap
Adam Hall had no time to think when Roger Mason darted to the basket and the ball squirted into Hall's hands.
"I think it rolled off somebody or the rim or something and just came to me," Hall said after scoring with 0.9 seconds left Wednesday night as No. 12 Virginia ended No. 3 Duke's 24-game road winning streak, 91-89.
"I just put it up. I didn't know how much time was on the clock. I didn't know if it counted or not. Then the fans started coming."
The play started with the score tied after Shane Battier made two free throws with 14.33 seconds left. Virginia inbounded the ball, got it to Mason and he dribbled off some time before streaking for the hoop.
"I wanted to wait until about seven seconds left," he said. "I got by my man, the defense collapsed on me and I tried to create something.
"Adam made a great play."
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The mayhem also promtped coach Pete Gillen to take the public address microphone, with the court packed with fans, to tell them thank you.
"It was a real inferno in there," Gillen said of the ninth consecutive sellout. "They gave us a 10- to 12-point edge tonight."
The Cavaliers (17-6, 6-6 ACC) ended a 12-game losing streak to Duke dating to 1996, and dramatically stemmed a tide of failure brought by consecutive road losses last week after climbing to No. 6 in the nation.
"Those kids, they were terrific. The team that should have won won," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "After losing two games, for them to respond in that mannr, I really admire that. We have to do that."
Duke (22-3, 10-2), which made up a 10-point deficit in the final 54 seconds against Maryland and won, tried a length-of-the-court pass on the final play, but Hall knocked it away, prompting the wild celebration.
In Charlotesville, the Blue Devils had it coming.
A year ago, Duke rallied from a 10-point deficit here and won 109-100 in overtime. Then earlier this season, amid high anticipation, the Blue Devils took a 53-20 halftime lead and embarassed the upstart Cavaliers 103-61 in Durham, N.C.
"I think maybe a lot of people thought we were going to keep our heads down and just fold to Duke or whatever," center Travis Watson said.
"Duke is a great team. Give it to them. But it was our night."
Trailing 89-87, Duke seemed on the verge of another shocker when it got the ball with 24.8 seconds left and called timeout. With 14.3 seconds to go, Hall fouled Battier, and the senior calmly made both.
That gave Virginia one last chance to win it in regulation.
Earlier, Mason had produced the eighth and final lead change of the half by sinking a 3-pointer with 4:33 left. It was his second 3-pointer in a span of 90 seconds and gave the Cavaliers an 81-80 lead.
Hall followed 26 seconds later with a rim-rocking dunk off a feed from Donald Hand, but neither team led by more than four thereafter.
Chris Williams led Virginia with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Mason scored 20 and Hall had 17. The Cavaliers shot 54 percent overall to Duke's 49 percent and made 9 of 12 free throws in the second half.
Battier paced Duke with 24 points and Duhon had 20, including five of the Blue Devils' seven second-half 3-pointers. Duke was 14-for-30 from behind the arc, but made just 18 of 35 shots inside.
"We're not that good where if we're off our game just a little bit, we can win against really good competition," Krzyzewski said.
Virginia also outrebounded the Blue Devils 41-25.
The Blue Devils made a big early run when Duhon hit two 3-pointers, Williams followed with another and Nate James capped a 15-3 burst with a follow basket, giving the visitors a 61-55 lead with 13:48 left.
Virginia got back even and used an 11-2 spurt to go ahead 73-68, but Mike Dunleavy's 3-pointer and another by Duhon sandwiched around a free throw by Jason Williams put Duke back ahead 75-73 with 7:20 left.
Dunleavy, who picked up three fouls in five minutes of first-half action, finished with just five points in 13 minutes. Williams, who hit his first 3-pointer 48 seconds in, was 5-for-21, but had nine assists.
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