The Seattle University men's basketball team took the early lead and never let it go, holding off a late rally by the University of Virginia to earn a 59-53 victory Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, the program's second victory over a major conference opponent on the road in as many seasons.
Sterling Carter (Seattle, Wash.) hit four three-pointers and led everyone with 19 points, while Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Seattle U enjoyed its best shooting night of the season, hitting 50 percent (24-of-48) of its field goal attempts, plus the Redhawks won the rebounding battle, 36-32.
"I am really excited for how our guys competed and played throughout the night," head coach Cameron Dollar said. "It's special to go into an ACC venue and come out with a win. It's always good for us to have external symbols that we are moving forward."
After Virginia scored the first two points of the game, Seattle University went on a 9-0 scoring run, with Carter providing five of those points, to pull ahead, 9-2, four minutes into the contest. A jumper by KT Harrell and two free throws from Mustapha Farrakhan pulled the Cavaliers to within four at 12-8, but the Redhawks responded with an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 20-10 with 9:45 remaining in the first half.
The two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first half until Sammy Zeglinski converted a traditional three-point play with 50 seconds left in the half to bring Virginia within seven at 30-23. The Cavaliers had a chance to come even closer at the end of the half, but Farrakhan missed a jumper and Seattle U went into the locker room at halftime ahead by seven.
The second half began with the two teams trading baskets for the first eight minutes before a three-pointer by Broussard started a 6-0 run that helped Seattle U expand its lead to 15 points at 50-35 with 8:55 remaining in the second half. The Redhawks held the Cavaliers without a field goal for seven-and-a-half minutes midway through the second half as Virginia struggled in the shooting department, hitting only 30.2 percent (16-of-53) of its field goal attempts, including 2-of-20 from behind the three-point line.
Virginia (8-4) started its comeback with two free throws by Mike Scott, followed by a jumper by Harrell and back-to-back layups by Scott that completed a 9-0 run to bring the Cavaliers within six at 54-48. After a media timeout, Seattle U settled down and received an important offensive rebound and putback by Brandon Durham (Bremerton, Wash.) to stop the Cavalier run, and Virginia missed 11 of 12 field goal attempts in the final three minutes.
Durham and Cervante Burrell (Sacramento, Calif.) contributed eight points apiece off the bench, and Garrett Lever (Phoenix, Ariz.) added two points, eight rebounds, and two steals to the winning effort. Seattle U, earning its first true road victory of the 2010-11 season, committed only 14 turnovers in a hostile environment.
Harrell led the Cavaliers with 16 points, while Scott, a surprise participant in the game just six days after arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, earned 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and two blocked shots in 31 minutes of action. In his first start of the season, Zeglinski contributed nine points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Virginia committed only nine turnovers during the contest and shot 82.6 percent (19-of-23) from the free throw line.
Seattle University (5-10) will receive a much-needed break of 10 days away from competition, not playing again until Sunday, Jan. 2, against Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. The next home game for the Redhawks is Thursday, Jan. 6, against Eastern Washington University starting at 7:10 p.m. at KeyArena at Seattle Center.