Article by Dan Tortora
The 2-seed Virginia Cavaliers and 3-seed Clemson Tigers came into the Greensboro Coliseum after seeing each other only one time this season, a 64-57 win for the Cavaliers at home less than two weeks ago.
This game began with two lead changes and two ties, but when junior guard Reece Beekman grabbed an offensive rebound and graduate guard Kihei Clark made the layup to follow at the 14:21 mark that made it 11-10 Cavaliers, Virginia did not rescind the lead for the remainder of the first half.
The Cavaliers got out to their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes with 24 seconds remaining in the half, ahead 12 at 37-25, which they would carry into the locker room, riding an 8-0 run.
That run would continue into the second half as Virginia extended it out to a 14-0 overall run taking a 43-25 advantage before Clemson would obtain their first score since exactly four minutes remaining in the first half (a three by graduate guard Hunter Tyson) when Tyson, ironically, got the bucket, this time a layup with 16:09 left to play, bringing the score to 43-27 Virginia. This ended an overall scoring drought of almost eight minutes for the Tigers.
At the midpoint of the second half, the Cavaliers led by 18, 56-38, only out-scoring the Tigers 19-15 in the half, but having the cushion of 12 points prior to the start of this period of basketball.
An 11-6 run by Clemson inside nine minutes to play got the deficit down to 14, 65-51, after being down by as many as 23 in the second half.
With 1:25 left on the clock and up by 18, 74-56, Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett called timeout to clear the bench.
The Cavaliers would never trail for the remainder of the contest upon taking the lead at the 14:21 mark of the first half, holding the advantage for the final 34 minutes and 21 seconds.
At the final buzzer of the night, the score read 76-56 in favor of Virginia, going 30-for-60 from the field (50%).
As a result, the Cavaliers will meet the Blue Devils for the 2022-23 ACC Tournament Championship on Saturday, March 11th, at 8:30pmET.
Virginia is now vying for their fourth ACC Tournament title, after winning their first in 1976 under the late Terry Holland, followed by 2014 and 2018 under Bennett.
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