Brogdon leads Virginia past Butler 77-69 in 2nd round

RALEIGH, N.C. – Malcolm Brogdon scored 22 points and Virginia used some hot second-half shooting to beat Butler 77-69 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Anthony Gill added 17 points and Marial Shayok finished with 12 for the top-seeded Cavaliers (28-7).

Virginia shot 73 percent after halftime, hitting 14 of its first 16 shots of the second half, and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years. It will face Iowa State (23-11) on Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals in Chicago.

Andrew Chrabascz scored a season-high 25 points for ninth-seeded Butler (22-11). Roosevelt Jones pulled the Bulldogs within 72-69 by hitting the first of two free throws with 36.2 seconds left.

He missed the second, then Shayok pushed Virginia’s lead back out to four with a free throw with 28.3 seconds left and Kellen Dunham’s 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go bounced off the iron.

Jones finished with 18 points, but Dunham, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 16.5 points, was held to eight – his lowest-scoring game since he also had that many in a loss to Providence on Dec. 31.

Mike Tobey added 10 points for the Cavaliers, who took over a tight game and seemed to hit everything in the second half. They repeatedly found ways to get the ball into the paint and convert during a 28-12 burst midway through the half that gave them the lead for good.

Shayok started the run with six straight points, then Virginia hit seven layups or dunks before Gill came through with the shot of the night with just under 6 minutes to play.

He hit a falling-down jumper in the lane through contact from Chrabascz, and then knocked down the free throw that followed to give the Cavaliers their largest lead at 64-55.

That offensive surge stood as a stark contrast to a first half that bore several signs of trouble for the Cavaliers, who trailed 25-23 at the break.

It was their lowest-scoring opening half since they were held to 21 points in the first 20 minutes of a loss at Virginia Tech on Jan. 4, and their first halftime deficit since a loss at Miami on Feb. 22.