CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Armaan Franklin scored 16 points and No. 11 Virginia held on after squandering most of a 23-point, second-half lead to beat Syracuse 73-66 on Saturday night, making coach Tony Bennett with career victories leader in Cavaliers history.
Bennett, in his 14th season, improved to 327-120 as Virginia's coach, breaking a tie with Terry Holland for the most wins in program history. Holland was 326-173 in 16 seasons.
Reece Beekman added 13 points and seven assists, Isaac McKneely scored 12 points and Kadin Shedrick had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers (11-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). They led 35-26 at halftime and seemed to put the game away when they scored the first 12 points of the second half to lead 47-26.
The Orange (10-6, 3-2) had won seven of their last eight. They trailed by 23 after the Cavaliers' run to open the second half, but used a 16-3 run to cut the deficit to single digits as Virginia missed 12 of 13 shots and went nearly nine minutes without a field goal.
Joe Girard III scored 19 points and Judah Mintz had 18 for the Orange. The loss was the eighth for Syracuse in the last nine meetings with Virginia.
BIG PICTURE
Syracuse: The Orange scored the last eight points of the first half to close a 17-point deficit to 35-26. One of the nation's top shot-blocking teams, they got three rejections from Mounir Hima in just 4 1/2 minutes of first-half action.
Virginia: Seven of the Cavaliers' 12 first-half field goals were 3-pointers, with Franklin and McKneely each hitting three. ... Jayden Gardner's first rebound made him the only active player in Division I with 2,000 career points and 1,000 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Syracuse is at home against Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.
Virginia is at home against North Carolina on Tuesday night.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
