Hurricanes pull away late

For roughly 39 minutes and 10 seconds, Virginia was masterful in its defense of Miami’s Jack McClinton on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. The Hurricanes star was practically invisible.

That is, until crunch time.

With just under a minute remaining, the senior showed why he is considered one of the best players in the country.

McClinton popped open in the right corner and drained a 3-pointer that hit nothing but net to keep his team’s NCAA tournament hopes alive, propelling Miami to a 62-55 win in front of a crowd of 9,392.

Miami coach Frank Haith knew Virginia had been cheating over the top of screens and designed a play for McClinton to fade to the corner.

“Jimmy [Graham] set a great screen and I got a good look,” McClinton said.

McClinton finished with just 11 points on three of 10 shooting, his second lowest output of the season.

“Calvin [Baker] did a heck of a job in guarding McClinton,” said Virginia freshman Sylven Landesberg. “We couldn’t have asked him to do a better job. It was just that other parts of the puzzle didn’t come together.”

Landesberg finished with 13 points — the first time in five games that he didn’t lead the team in scoring. Landesberg, who was forced to shoot from the outside by Miami’s 2-3 zone, scored just two points after the break.

“We really didn’t want him to drive the ball,” Haith said. “That’s where he’s dangerous in putting a lot of pressure on people off the dribble. I thought our guys did a really good job of keeping him out of the paint.”

After the game, Landesberg was noticeably frustrated.

“They just closed all the holes up every time I touched the ball,” he said. “It was just real tough penetrating … they just stuck to their gameplan and denied me the lane.”

Jeff Jones led Virginia with 16 points, but was replaced by Mustapha Farrakhan down the stretch because of a couple of defensive lapses.

“There were three or four specific defensive assignments that he got lost on,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “Mustapha did a better job that way. I rode it for a little longer than I intended to do.”

Jones re-entered the game and nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 55, but Virginia committed three straight turnovers before McClinton’s big shot.

“We tried to force things,” Landesberg said. “I turned the ball over once when I tried to get the ball to Sammy [Zeglinski] in the corner … all our minds were in the right place, but we just tried to force it.”

Virginia (9-15, 3-10 ACC) started the game strong, showing the kind of intensity that had been lacking in its previous loss to N.C. State.

UVa, behind the somewhat surprising outside shooting of Landesberg — he drilled three 3-pointers — jumped out to a 17-7 lead.

Meanwhile, Virginia was able to hold McClinton in check. The senior didn’t score his first basket until more than midway through the first half.

Still, the Hurricanes (17-10, 6-8), behind the 3-point shooting of Adrian Thomas — were able to climb back into the game.

They took a four-point lead after a Lance Hurdle jumper before Virginia answered with baskets by Jones and Mike Scott to tie things up. Jones blocked a Thomas 3-point attempt at the buzzer as the teams headed into the intermission deadlocked at 29.

For the second time in the last three home games, Tunji Soroye gave Virginia a huge lift off the bench. In the second half, he blocked shots on back-to-back Miami possessions, then scored on the other end after the second block to give Virginia a 37-35 lead.

There were eight ties and neither team led by more than three points until McClinton’s 3-pointer.

“At 55-55, I said, ‘That’s when somebody’s going to separate themselves,” Leitao said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t us.”

Dunks

Virginia freshman Assane Sene sprained his right ankle in the first half and did not return. “It’s hard to tell,” said Leitao, when asked about the severity. “It’s anything from mild to serious.” … Wally Walker, the 1976 ACC Tournament MVP, was in attendance.