Hoos rally from down four with nine seconds left to beat Pitt

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Jayden Gardner scored five points in the final 10 seconds, including a final second jump shot, to lift the Virginia Men’s Basketball team over Pittsburgh.

UVA opened up ACC play at home against Pitt on Dec. 3.

With seven minutes to go in the first half, Kihei Clark beat a Pitt defender a made a move to the basket. He hit Gardner with a no look pass from underneath the basket and Gardner connected for the easy two pointer. That put the Hoos up by three with 7 minutes left in the first half.

UVA would take a four point lead, 30-26, into the break.

In the Second half, Pitt hung around with the Hoos.

Halfway through the second half, the Hoos went up by four points following a Reese Beekman steal which led a Kadin Shedrick dunk.

With under one minute to play, the Cavaliers were up 52-51 but Pitt’s Onyebuchi Ezeakudo hit a corner three pointer to take a 54-52 lead.

With under ten seconds remaining, the Hoos inbounded under the Pitt basket, trailing by four. Gardner took the inbound pass from the low block and battled through contact to make the shot along with a foul. The free throw would make it a one point game, 54-55.

Pitt then had to inbound from underneath its own basket with a one point lead and nine seconds remaining. The Cavalier defense forced a five second call giving UVA the ball trailing by one.

UVA had one last chance to tie or take the lead.

Taine Murray missed a three pointer but Jayden Gardner tracked down the rebound and threw up a shot from the baseline. It rattled around the rim and eventually went through with .9 seconds remaining, putting the Hoos back in front 57-56.

UVA would move to 1-0 in the ACC with a 57-56 win against Pittsburgh.

“To win one I think is important, even how we did it at the end and just, again, there’s probably going to be a lot of games that could be like that but you have to be good enough to be in them,” UVA Head Coach Tony Bennett said. “The guys fought and the crowd helped.”

“We’re a new group and we’re just trying to find our identity defensively, so, we’re going to make mistakes and teams are good, it’s college basketball anybody can beat anybody,” UVA Guard Kihei Clark said.

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.