A pretty big fight broke out early in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday night, leading to an ejection in the victory for the Virginia.
No. 11 Virginia rolled to a dominant 90-61 win over NC State on Tuesday. But things got heated, and fast, in the second half of that contest.
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Not even three minutes into the second period, Virginia’s Sam Lewis and NC State’s Darrion Williams got into a brief confrontation at midcourt. It’s unclear what started it, but Lewis appeared to shove Williams, and both he and Paul McNeil Jr. retaliated and shoved Lewis back. That sparked a big scrum in the middle of the floor, which took several coaches and officials to get separated.
NC State’s Scottie Ebube was ejected from the contest for leaving the bench. He had not played in the game at that point. Both Lewis and Williams were hit with technical fouls, and the game continued on normally.
Despite that incident, Virginia had no issue rolling to the 29-point win. The Cavaliers led the entire way on Tuesday, held the Wolfpack to just 19 points in the first half and had five players hit double figures. Thijs De Ridder led the way with 19 points after he went 7 of 10 from the field, and Lewis added 16 points and three rebounds.
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McNeil led NC State with 22 points and six rebounds, and Williams added 14 points. The Wolfpack fell to 19-9 on the season with the loss, which marked their third in a four-game span. The lone win came in the form of a 24-point victory over North Carolina last week.
Virginia, meanwhile, is quietly rolling to an impressive run in the ACC. The Cavaliers have now won nine straight and sit at 25-3 on the season. They are in second in the conference standings, and will take on No. 1 Duke on Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. A win there would give them the lead in the conference race entering the final week of play.
“Virginia’s a great team. They can go to the Final Four,” NC State coach Will Wade said, via 247 Sports’ Jacquie Franciulli. “They steamrolled us. They’re better than we are.
“If we played them 10 times, I’m not sure we would beat them. Maybe once.”
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