Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers scored a much-needed upset Friday night in Las Vegas.
No. 16 Virginia stunned No. 5 Baylor 86-79 at T-Mobile Arena thanks to a big run to open the second half. The win was the university’s first major athletic meet. Three Cavaliers footballers were shot dead on campus Sunday.
“Many people know the pain and grief that football programs, youth, coaching staff and, on another level, families are going through,” Bennett said. “We’re like a ripple effect. A lot of us were close to the young men… we talked about it later. You played hard and you played free. Win or lose It was fine, but I respected my rights’ stuff.
“In situations like that, we really put things in perspective…it’s not the whole story. I know there are many who are devastated and hurt, and we are praying for them.”
A Virginia student and former football player faces second-degree murder charges in the murder of three people — Soccer players Ravel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and Deshawn Perry — Sunday night after returning to Charlottesville after a school trip to Washington, DC
The football team canceled its final home game of the season on Saturday.
“I wanted to talk to Tony Bennett and see how they were doing,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said before the game. Clearly their hearts are on something else and many are praying for them.”
Baylor handled the game well early on, giving the locker room a three-point lead at the break. But that’s when Virginia finally caught the spark.
The Cavaliers used a massive 22-for-3 run that spanned nearly seven minutes early in the second half to completely blow the game away. They suddenly had a 21-point lead and were 8/11 from behind the arc during that stretch.
Baylor eventually pulled themselves out of that hole and returned the game to single figures repeatedly in the second half with their own mini-run. The Bears also made it just 6 points on a Dale Bonner layup with just a minute left. But it was as close as they got.
Virginia went 7/8 from the free-throw line in the final stretch for a 7-point win.
Aaman Franklin led the Cavaliers with a career-high 25 points while shooting 7-of-12 from the field. Kadin Shedrick had 17 points and Reese Beekman had 10 points and 10 assists.
Keyonte George led Baylor with 20 points and LJ Cryer finished with 19 while shooting 8/12 from the field.the b
Virginia will face the winners of UCLA and Illinois in Las Vegas on Sunday. Baylor will face the loser of that matchup to close out the four-team event in Nevada.
