GREENSBORO, NC – – Reece Beekman hit a 3-point basket when time expired to help No. 16 Virginia beat Syracuse 72-69 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday.
Beekman had missed a shot all day, but buried a 3 on the right wing of a Kihei Clark feed when the horn sounded. This prompted Beekman to immediately run to the other side of the court with his teammates chasing him at full speed before finally meeting with him near the base line to celebrate.
That shot helped Cavaliers (18-6) to win after losing 11 in the first half while struggling to slow Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim.
Sam Hauser scored 21 points to lead Virginia, who made 4 of 5 3s to close the game in the last 5 and a half minutes.
Boeheim finished 31 points, the best of his career, for Orange’s eighth place (16-9), the day after scoring 27 points at the opening of the Syracuse tournament. He almost took Orange to another victory to help his chances at the NCAA Tournament, scoring 11 of Syracuse’s last 13 points.
After Beekman’s shot fell, Boeheim stood near the middle of the court, hands on his knees in disbelief, while teammate Quincy Guerrier crouched a few feet away.
BIG PICTURE:
Syracuse: The Orange entered the week close to the cut line on most NCAA projections, although a victory against the North Carolina team’s bubble team on Wednesday helped in that case. Later, Boeheim said he thought Orange “did what we needed to do this year”, but with a warning to wait and see. Winning this one would probably have eliminated all doubts on that front.
Virginia: The Cavaliers had won the regular season race by defeating Louisville, after No. 15 Florida State lost at Notre Dame on the last day of the schedule. This gave the Cavaliers seed number 1 for the fifth time in eight seasons, while pursuing the third tournament title under Tony Bennett. Hauser was great at this and Trey Murphy III (15 points) had some big 3s late, although Beekman was the hero on this day.
NEXT
Syracuse: The Orange awaits its destination at the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.
Virginia: The Cavaliers advanced to Friday’s semifinals to face the Miami-Georgia Tech winner.
——
More college basketball AP: https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and http://www.twitter.com/AP–Top25
——
Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap