CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Talor Battle scored 28 of his 32 points in the second half and Penn State withstood a furious rally by Virginia in the final minute to beat the Cavaliers 69-66 Monday night in the opener of the Big Ten-ACC challenge.
The Nittany Lions (5-2) led 55-43 with about four minutes left, but a banked-in
3-pointer by Sylven Landesberg and three by Sammy Zeglinski in the final 1:31 got the Cavaliers to within 67-66 with 5.7 seconds left before Battle’s two free throws produced the final score.
Penn State became the first Big Ten team to win three straight in the annual matchup of conferences.
The Nittany Lions beat Virginia Tech in 2007 and won at Georgia Tech last year.
Landesberg led Virginia (4-3) with
18 points, Mike Scott had 17 and Zeglinski 16, including 11 in the final 1:17.
He missed a leaning 3-pointer for the tie at the buzzer.
Penn State was 6-for-6 at the line in the final minute until Battle missed a pair of foul shots with 15.7 seconds left, and then made just one of two with 9.8 seconds left as Virginia rallied.
Zeglinski made two at the line with
11.4 seconds left to get Virginia to 66-63, and after Battle’s one free throw, Zeglinski hit about a 24-footer to pull Virginia within one.
The Cavaliers led 27-21 at halftime, but Battle scored 10 points and had two assists in a 23-7 run to open the second half, giving the Nittany Lions a 44-34 lead.
They led the rest of the way by a comfortable margin until Zeglinski made it interesting in the final minute.
Battle hit five 3-pointers in the half. Tim Frazier added 11 points for Penn State.
Scott scored eight points in a 14-4 run that gave Virginia its biggest lead of the first half at 27-17, but the Nittany Lions scored the last four points of the half to get to
27-21.
Scott was 6-for-6 from the field and had five rebounds before halftime.
