A fairly large brawl broke out early in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday night, leading to the Cavaliers being sent off in the victory.
No. 11 Virginia earned a dominant 90-61 victory over NC State on Tuesday. But things heated up and quickly in the second half of this competition.
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Just three minutes into the second half, Virginia’s Sam Lewis and NC State’s Darrion Williams faced off briefly in the middle of the field. It’s unclear what exactly sparked the situation, but Lewis appeared to push Williams, and he and Paul McNiel Jr. fought back and pushed Lewis back. This sparked a large melee in the middle of the field, which required several coaches and officials to break up.
NC State’s Scottie Ebube was ejected from the contest for leaving the bench. He hadn’t played the match yet. Lewis and Williams were hit with technical fouls and play continued as normal.
Despite this incident, Virginia had no problem securing the 29-point victory. The Cavaliers led the entire way Tuesday, held the Wolfpack to just 19 points in the first half and saw five players reach double figures. Thijs De Ridder led the way with 19 points after shooting 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 four games. The lone win there, however, came in the form of a 24-point win over North Carolina last week.
Virginia, meanwhile, is very quietly heading towards a very impressive run in the ACC. The Cavaliers have now won nine in a row and are 25-3 this season. They are also second in the conference standings and will face No. 1 Duke next Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. A win there would give them the lead in the conference race heading into the final week of play.
“If we played them 10 times, I’m not sure we’d beat them. Maybe once.”
