CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Virginia coach Tony Bennett said he didn’t know what happened on the final play of regulation in the eighth-ranked Cavaliers’ 69-62 overtime victory against Duke.
Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer didn’t, either — and he was left fuming.
“I still would like an explanation exactly,” Scheyer said after the game. “I don’t have clarity on that.”
Duke (17-8, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) appeared poised to win when Kyle Filipowski drove to the basket on the final play of regulation Saturday and two defenders contested his shot. Officials initially whistled a foul, drawing thunderous disapproval from fans, but waved it off after a lengthy review — a decision the ACC later said was incorrect.
On the play, which started with 1.2 seconds left, Filipowski drove from the left side and officials called a foul. Replays showed Reece Beekman appeared to get a clean block on the shot but also made enough body contact to knock Filipowski to the floor.
“He made a big-time play attacking the basket, and there’s no doubt he’s knocking down those free throws in my mind,” Scheyer said.
“They told me after the fact that the call was made after the buzzer and you can see the ball left his hands before point zero,” Scheyer said of the officials. “So I don’t know exactly what the rule is.”
The league issued a statement hours later, saying officials applied rules incorrectly and that Filipowski should have been sent to the line for two free throws.
According to the league, officials had determined after a review that a foul by Virginia’s Ryan Dunn had been committed after time expired. But the NCAA rule book states that the ball being in flight made it a live play with players in those situations being considered “an airborne shooter,” which should have led to free throws, according to the statement.
Instead, it was Armaan Franklin making the big shot, a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in overtime to finish a 23-point performance. Franklin said he was initially out of position for the play, but adjusted and point guard Kihei Clark found him.
“I saw them kind of like mashed up on the side with Kihei on the wing, and I just ran to the corner. His man didn’t switch off. I just had an open corner look and I shoot a million of those a day,” he said.
Clark added 16 points and five assists and Ben Vander Plas scored 13 for the Cavaliers (19-4, 11-3), who won despite a 9-for-22 performance from the free throw line. Vander Plas also was credited with drawing 11 of the 24 fouls whistled against Duke.
Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils with 16 points and Tyrese Proctor had 14. Filipowski, who averages 15.5 points, was scoreless.
Trailing 58-53, Duke got a driving basket from Roach with 1:31 left and a 3-pointer by Jacob Grandison from in front of the Blue Devils’ bench to tie it with 50 seconds left. Neither team scored again in regulation.
Vander Plas drew a huge ovation when he made a pair of free throws to open the overtime scoring. At that point, Virginia had missed nine of 12 from the line. Clark’s driving basket and another free throw gave the Cavaliers a 63-58 lead, and two baskets by Proctor were all the Blue Devils managed in the extra period.
Duke, now 2-6 in league road games, became the 39th consecutive ACC opponent to fail to reach 70 points at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers used an 8-0 run to lead 54-51 with just under five minutes to play. Ryan Young hit a pair of free throws to pull Duke within a point, but after Virginia failed to score, the Blue Devils committed their third shot clock violation of the game with 3:29 left.
Virginia used a 14-5 run spanning the halves to take a 35-30 lead, but Duke responded with a 19-9 run that featured eight points by Dariq Whitehead, who had missed the past four games with an ankle injury.
BIG PICTURE
Duke: Roach scored 12 consecutive points for the Blue Devils after Dereck Lively opened their scoring with a pair of free throws. His last basket of the run gave him more points that Virginia’s 11 at the time.
Virginia: Despite a distinct size disadvantage, the Cavaliers drove continually in the opening half, getting 20 of their 25 points in the paint. The Blue Devils had four players with two fouls by halftime and Roach was whistled for his third 31 seconds into the second half.
Virginia finished with 42 points in the paint and 20 points off Duke’s 22 turnovers.
UP NEXT
Duke: Returns home to face Notre Dame on Tuesday night.
Virginia: Travels to Louisville on Wednesday night.
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