With 5 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first half and down 25-17, the Virginia men's basketball team decided it was time to get serious and put some points on the board. It was no surprise that the Cavaliers would make a run at Florida State. What was a surprise, however, was who sparked that run for Virginia.
Six-foot-9, 265-pound freshman forward Elton Brown hit three first-half three-pointers to keep the Cavaliers (12-2, 3-2 ACC) in the game. Senior guard Roger Mason Jr. added three treys to put the Cavaliers ahead for good en route to a 91-74 victory over the Seminoles (9-7, 2-3 ACC) Sunday afternoon.
"It was a hard-fought win," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We knew Elton could shoot like that. He was superb this game. He has the green light to shoot. The bench was really huge for us."
Virginia scored 32 points in the final 6:38 of the first half, after struggling to score only 13 points and making only four field goals in the first 13:22.
The Seminoles stifled the Cavaliers with a zone until Brown drilled a three from the right corner to tie it with 3:07 left in the first. A minute later, senior Chris Williams fed the trailing Brown, who subsequently pulled up and hit his third three of the game from the top of the key.
Brown ended up with a career-high 16 points and four rebounds. He is currently shooting .667 (6-of-9) from downtown this season.
"I have worked on my jumper for a while," Brown said. "I am still an inside player, but when the opponents give me an outside look, I am going to pull up and take the shot."
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After sitting on the bench for a little under five minutes - quite a long rest for a player who averages close to 38 minutes a game - Mason came up big at the end of the first half, hitting three straight threes, including one from 24 feet, to give Virginia a six-point lead going into the half.
"My shoulder is still a little sore," from a fall against Wake Forest, Mason, who scored 16 points, said. "I didn't play as well as I would have liked in the first half, and I sat on the bench while we went on a run. I went in and just tried to make something happen."
While Mason and Brown came up with the big plays for the Cavaliers, senior Chris Williams and junior Travis Watson provided the meat and potatoes, scoring 24 and 14 points, respectively. Watson also brought down 15 rebounds for his 30th career double-double, tied for second all-time at Virginia.
These two veterans helped Virginia pull away at the beginning of the second half as the Cavaliers went on 19-6 run to start the second half that included six points from Williams, four points from Watson, and a rare three-pointer from forward J.C. Mathis.
The Seminoles brought it to as close as 13 late in the second half, but no closer, as the Cavaliers hit 37 of their season high 44 free throws. Virginia shot 33 more free throws than Florida State.
Monte Cummings led Florida State with 19 points. Delvon Arrington added 16.
The freshmen guards continued to impress, as point guard Keith Jenifer came up with a career-high six assists and shooting guard Jermaine Harper scored nine points off the bench.
While the Cavaliers made yet another comeback at home, new zone-buster Brown realizes that they will have to come out of the locker room better if they are to contend with the likes of Duke and Maryland.
"We came out of the gate sluggish," Brown said. "We need to play better coming out of the gates. I think we can contend with anyone when we come out playing hot"
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