CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - London Perrantes scored a career-high 15 points and No. 12 Virginia opened the second half with a 16-5 run in a 65-40 victory over Miami on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers’ 12th consecutive victory.
Perrantes hit all four of his three-point attempts and Malcolm Brogdon also scored 15 points for Virginia (24-5, 15-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). The victory was Virginia’s school-record 17th consecutive at home in conference play and assured them of one of the top two seeds in next month’s conference tournament.
Erik Swoope scored 13 points and Rion Brown had 12 for Miami (14-14, 5-10). The defending ACC regular season and tournament champions shot just 26 percent (12 of 46) and had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
It happened, as it has so often this season for Virginia, with a big burst.
Leading 27-20 at halftime, Virginia got two three-pointers from Perrantes in the 16-5 spree after intermission. Brogdon scored four points and Akil Mitchell had a three point play in the run, which was helped along by a scoreless string of nearly 4 1/2 minutes by the Hurricanes.
Davon Reed ended that with a basket in the lane, moments after he had airballed a free throw, but instead of the Hurricanes making a game of it, Virginia pulled away, leading by as many as 26 points.
It was Virginia’s 11th ACC victory by double digits, and most of them were over early. It also came one game after they reeled off 25 consecutive points to pull away and beat Notre Dame 70-49, and just a few weeks after they broke open a close game with a game-ending 20-1 run at Georgia Tech.
Virginia used an early 10-2 run to open a 15-10 lead, and led 27-20 at halftime. Both teams shot poorly in the half, with Virginia making only 9 of 27 shots (33 percent), but five were three-pointers. Miami was 8 for 25 in the half (32 percent) and missed all seven of its three-point tries.
NO. 3 ARIZONA 87, CALIFORNIA 59
TUCSON, Ariz. - Nick Johnson scored 22 points, Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 and No. 3 Arizona quickly turned its rematch with California into a rout.
Arizona (26-2, 13-2 Pac-12) ran away from the Bears early, using a big first half run and good shooting (50 percent) all game to prevent the season sweep.
T.J. McConnell had 13 points and six assists, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson provided a lift off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson had seven rebounds and five assists after struggling the first game against the Bears.
Cal (18-10, 9-6) struggled at times against Arizona’s defensive pressure and had little chance of stopping the Wildcats at the other end to lose for the 17th time in 19 games at McKale Center. NO. 8 VILLANOVA 67, BUTLER 48
VILLANOVA, Pa. - Darrun Hilliard and James Bell scored 11 points each to lead No. 8 Villanova to a victory over Butler.
The Wildcats (25-3, 13-2 Big East) survived one of their worst 20 minutes of the season to win for the ninth time in 10 games.
They needed almost the first 10 minutes of the game to score 10 points, missed eight of their first nine three point attempts, and didn’t have a player reach double digits in scoring until midway through the second half.
As bad as Villanova played, the Bulldogs (12-16, 2-14) were even worse, shooting only 26 percent in the first half.
Butler has lost seven consecutive games as it has struggled in its first season in the Big East.
NO. 15 IOWA ST. 83, WEST VIRGINIA 66
AMES, Iowa - Georges Niang scored 24 points, DeAndre Kane had 17 and 11 rebounds, and No. 15 Iowa State beat West Virginia for its seventh victory in eight games.
Naz Long had 15 points on five three-pointers for the Cyclones (22-5, 10-5 Big 12), who have recorded three consecutive 10-victory seasons in league play for the first time.
Iowa State rolled despite playing nearly the entire second half without star Melvin Ejim, who sat because of foul trouble.
Juwan Staten had 19 points and Eron Harris added 15 to lead West Virginia (15-13, 7-8), which lost its third consecutive game.
NO. 16 MICHIGAN 77, PURDUE 76, OT
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Glenn Robinson III got a late bank shot to roll in as time expired, giving No. 16 Michigan an overtime victory at Purdue.
The shot capped a remarkable rally. Michigan (20-7, 12-3 Big Ten) trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, 13 at halftime and never led until the opening basket of overtime.
Robinson finished with 17 points while Nik Stauskas had 15.
Terone Johnson had a season-high 22 points for Purdue (15-13, 5-10) while his brother Ronnie added 21. The Boilermakers have lost three consecutive games.
Michigan could have won it in regulation, but Stauskas came up short on a three-pointer with 3 seconds to go.
In overtime, the Wolverines took the lead with three dunks and then won it after Robinson caught a lob pass in the right corner and spun away toward the basket.
NO. 19 NORTH CAROLINA 85, NC STATE 84, OT
RALEIGH, N.C. - Marcus Paige hit a driving basket with 0.9 seconds left to cap a career night and help No. 19 North Carolina beat North Carolina State in overtime.
Paige finished with 35 points - 31 after halftime - and seven three-pointers for the Tar Heels (21-7, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their 10th consecutive game.
UNC needed every bit of that production to outlast the Wolfpack (17-11, 7-8) and league-leading scorer T.J. Warren, who had a career-high 36 points in a losing effort.
The Tar Heels were down 11 points in the first half and by six with 2 minutes left in overtime, but clawed back to win in a classic finish between nearby rivals.
NO. 24 TEXAS 74, BAYLOR 69
AUSTIN, Texas - Cameron Ridley had 20 points and 10 rebounds and made a big defensive play with a block in the final minute as No. 24 Texas held on to beat Baylor.
Javan Felix scored 21 points on seven three-pointers for Texas, which led by 18 points in the first half but saw Baylor pull within one late.
Isaiah Taylor scored 13 points for the Longhorns (21-7, 10-5 Big 12), including a twisting left-handed layup that put Texas ahead 72-69.
Ridley blocked a layup by Kenny Chery before Taylor made two free throws.
Chery scored 27 points for Baylor (18-10, 6-9), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped.
Sports, Pages 20 on 02/27/2014