Isaac McKneely scored 18 points to lead five Virginia players in double figures in a 74-65 victory over Manhattan on Tuesday night in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (4-2) bounced back after back-to-back losses in the Bahamas last week by a combined 47 points to Tennessee and St. John’s.
McKneely was 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Andrew Rohde added 14 points, Blake Buchanan scored 11 and Jacob Cofie and Dai Dai Ames each had 10 for Virginia.
Virginia outscored the Jaspers (3-3) 42-22 in the paint and scored 25 points off 14 Manhattan turnovers.
The Cavaliers never trailed in the game and scored the first nine points of the second half for a 47-31 lead.
The Jaspers answered with an 11-2 run to get within 49-42 with 14:14 remaining.
Virginia outscored Manhattan 9-0 over the next five-plus minutes to stretch the lead back to 58-42.
The Jaspers kept chipping away. Wesley Robinson’s three-point play with 3:44 left pulled them within 61-55.
McKneely’s 3-pointer gave the Cavaliers a 68-59 cushion with 1:14 to play and Virginia made all six of its free throws in the final 1:01.
Robinson led Manhattan with 12 points. Devin Dinkins had 11 points off the bench and Masiah Gilyard added 10 points.
The Cavaliers shot 53.7 percent from the field to offset the Jaspers’ 42.3-percent effort (11 of 26) from 3-point distance.
Virginia raced to a 10-2 start and took its first double-digit lead at 21-10 on TJ Power’s 3-pointer with 12:30 left.
The Cavaliers built their largest lead of the first half at 27-12 on Cofie’s putback jumper.
Manhattan whittled the deficit to 32-28 on Shaquil Bender’s steal and layup with 2:25 remaining.
Virginia responded with back-to-back dunks by Elijah Saunders and led 38-31 at intermission.
–Field Level Media
