Jason Williford's offensive rebound and basket with 46 seconds left gave Virginia its first lead of the second half and a 57-54 victory over New Mexico Friday in the first round of the NCAA West tournament.
Trailing 54-53, Williford grabbed Junior Burrough's missed shot and battled through Lobo defenders for the winning points. It was only his second basket of the game.Harold Deane added two free throws to ice the win for the Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The larger and heavier Cavaliers wore down a fast and scrappy New Mexico team that held leads as big as 15 points in the second half.
The Cavaliers shot just 40 percent in the game and did not find the range until the last 10 minutes, just as the Lobos started missing.
"I'm not sure we deserved to win, but we are certainly not going to give it back," said Virginia coach Jeff Jones. "We never panicked and our defense was great down the stretch."
Indeed, it was unclear if Virginia (18-12) snatched a victory or if New Mexico (23-8) shot one away.
The Lobos of the Western Athletic Conference led the nation in three-point shooting this season. They launched 25 three-point attempts against the Cavaliers. Only six connected, well below their season average of 38 percent. None came late in the game, as the Lobos were shut out for the final two minutes.
"You don't get to be the No. 1 3-point shooting team in the country if you don't make 3's," said New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, defending his team's decision to keep launching bombs.
Bliss said it was unusual that guard Greg Brown, who finished with 12 points, seven below his average, shot just three free throws in the game, and blamed the officials for "non-calls."
"This year we made more free throws than others attempted," Bliss said. "Today they didn't get called."
Virginia was taller and heavier at nearly every position, and that showed as the game wore on and the Lobos tired.
Bliss compared his team to a cobra. "We got mongoosed today," he said.
Burrough led Virginia scorers with 20, while Deane, a freshman, added 18.
"Junior was a horse in the lane," Jones said, playing against double and sometimes triple coverage.
Freshman Charles Smith led New Mexico with 20 points, while Marlow White added 12.
New Mexico took a 28-24 lead at halftime after the Cavaliers shot 34 percent. Then the Lobos outscored Virginia 13-2 to open the second half and led 41-26. White, Brown and Smith each connected for 3-pointers in the run.
Virginia, meanwhile, missed its first seven field goals of the second half. But the Cavs found their touch at the midpoint, hitting five consecutive inside baskets, including two by Burrough, to cut the New Mexico lead to 43-39.
Burrough, a junior, hit two more baskets to pull Virginia to within one point, 44-43.
Deane's 3-pointer tied the game at 46-46 with 6:16 left. Smith, meanwhile, scored all nine of the Lobos points in one stretch to keep his team in the game.