Gary Forbes came off the Virginia bench with one mission: stop Virginia Tech's Zabian Dowdell.
That defensive substitution turned into the offensive spark the Cavaliers needed to avenge a Jan. 27 loss to their rival down south.
Forbes scored a season-high 21 points to lead Virginia (13-9, 4-7 ACC) to its third straight victory Saturday afternoon, 65-60, over in-state foe Virginia Tech.
"I was in the right spots at the right times," Forbes said. "Devin [Smith] was passing the ball great, and Sean [Singletary] saw me. I was just feeding off them and off the fans."
After playing to a tied first half, the Hokies (12-10, 5-6) jumped out to a six-point lead, 38-32, with just under 14 minutes to play. Then Forbes took over.
Over the next eight minutes, Forbes scored 16 of 21 Virginia points -- two of which came from a crowd-erupting alley-oop from Singletary -- that helped the Cavaliers build a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Dowdell put up 20 points, and center Coleman Collins added 19 for the Hokies, but Virginia's defense was the difference.
The Virginia Tech trio of Deron Washington, Carlos Dixon and Jamon Gordon, which tacked up 40 points on the Cavaliers in their first meeting in January, managed only 19 Saturday. Virginia held the Hokies to 35.7 percent shooting from the field.
"I think the story of today's game, in my opinion, is our defense, especially in the second half," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We defend and we have a chance against a lot of teams. We have to try to win with defense; we're not going to win with our offense."
Smith added 16 points and seven rebounds for Virginia. Elton Brown, back in the starting lineup after a two-game hiatus, put up 10 points and seven rebounds, as did Singletary.
Singletary also protected the ball throughout the afternoon, handing out seven assists while only committing one turnover, a step up from his three-and-one performance in Blacksburg.
The Cavaliers turned the ball over only nine times Saturday, compared to 22 giveaways last month.
"Virginia Tech has great hands -- they are always smacking the ball," Gillen said. "We emphasized to our guys that when you drive you have to put two hands on the ball and protect it. We did a little better job protecting it tonight."
Virginia will take its momentum to Chapel Hill Wednesday night for a match-up with the Tar Heels, a team that led the Cavaliers by as many as 50 in their first meeting before finally winning by 34.
But that titanic loss, which came two days after the Blacksburg defeat, is out of the Cavaliers' minds now, and Forbes said they're playing with a renewed sense of confidence.
"It carries over from practice and from off the court," he said. "We've got our swagger back."
Singletary agreed.
"We've been a lot happier and we've also been hungrier," he said. "I think the sky's the limit for us if we keep playing hard"
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