After letting a 17-point second half lead go down the drain against Team Dasani, Virginia was saved by the last-second heroics of Todd Billet.
The senior guard received a quick pass from freshman J.R. Reynolds with four seconds remaining and made his way down the floor in time to launch a buzzer-beating trey from the right wing. The basket lifted the Cavaliers to a 91-90 exhibition victory over Coaches vs. Cancer Team Dasani last night at U-Hall.
"At the 13-minute mark at this game, I was pretty much counting it over," freshman forward Donte Minter said. Dasani "played real hard and real well together and hit shots to make it close."
The Cavaliers had a productive offensive night, shooting 53.1 percent from the field and getting 21 and 20 points from sophomore forward Derrick Byars and junior forward Elton Brown respectively. The difference in the second half was Virginia's defensive play -- a problem that plagued the Cavaliers in their first exhibition.
"It was deja vu," Byars said. "I think we let up a little bit in the second half. We couldn't get stops when we needed them."
Virginia held the lead for the first 39 and a half minutes of the contest, but Dominic Smith hit his third three-pointer in as many possessions to give Dasani an 89-86 lead with 32 seconds left.
Dasani center D.J. Harrison blocked a dunk attempt from freshman forward Gary Forbes to give Dasani the ball back with a three-point lead and only 14 seconds left. Forward Harold Arceneaux missed a pair of free throws -- possibly on purpose, judging from his demeanor and shooting stance at the line -- to keep Virginia in the game.
Billet took the ball upcourt and was fouled while putting up a running jump shot in the lane. He made the field goal but missed the foul shot, leaving Virginia still trailing by one. The Cavaliers fouled Dasani forward Rass Johnson with 4.5 seconds left. Johnson drained the first and intentionally missed the second. Billet was still able to capitalize, draining the three-pointer as time expired.
"They tried to miss it so we wouldn't have time to set up a play," Billet said. "But we were able to get it down the court, and I got a decent look at it."
The Cavaliers had plenty of good looks throughout the game but had much more success in the first half. Virginia shot 21-of-30 in the first 20 minutes but started to run out of gas in the second stanza. The Cavaliers shot only 38.2 percent from the field in the second half and were outscored 50-42 by Dasani.
"We got tired and made some bad decisions," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We had some great looks but some of our guys just didn't make them. We need to get our game wind a little bit better."
Byars and Minter gave the Cavaliers their most consistent offensive performances of the night. Byars shot 9-for-12 from the field, including 3-of-4 from long range. Combined with his 10-for-11 in Virginia's first exhibition game, Byars is shooting 82.6 percent for the preseason. Minter scored 18with eight rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting in only 17 minutes.
"We've got to get him on the court more," Gillen said of Minter. "He's a good player. Elton's a good player. If those guys are both shooting well, we need to think about playing them together."
Virginia was without starting forward Devin Smith, who was hampered by an ailing back. Smith was expected to start but didn't feel healthy enough at game time.
Next up for Virginia is Sunday night's regular season opener against Mount St. Mary's. While the Cavaliers may have quenched their thirst for victory with the exhibition win against Dasani, a defeat over the Mountaineers would be even more refreshing.
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