Young Cavaliers work overtime

ATLANTA — Throughout the early portion of the season, groans have sometimes reverberated throughout John Paul Jones Arena when Virginia guard Calvin Baker overdribbles or takes an ill-advised shot.
Just imagine what those same fans were yelling at their televisions when Baker — whose style of play is rarely described as pretty — got the ball in his hands with the game tied and the clock dwindling inside of 10 seconds on Sunday evening.
After Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal had tied the game on a breakaway dunk, Sammy Zeglinski passed it to Baker who zoomed up the court.
“I looked at coach Leitao to see if he was going to call a timeout or anything and he just said, ‘Push it,’” Baker said, “so I started dribbling up the court with my left hand and I saw that they were scrambling to get back, so I just dribbled as fast as I could to either get fouled or make the layup.
“Lawal was helping off the post player, but he was too late and I got the layup off.”
Baker’s deuce with nine seconds left shocked the home crowd at Alexander Memorial Coliseum and gave Virginia an impressive 88-84 league-opening win.
“I didn’t call a timeout in that last [sequence] because Calvin had a pretty good motor,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, “and I had a little bit of a flashback last year to Sean [Singletary] and Calvin.”
Last March, Baker hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 4.2 seconds left to sink the Yellow Jackets. Baker said when he first walked into the arena on Sunday, a couple of Georgia Tech assistant coaches were giving him some good-natured ribbing about it. Safe to say, it won’t be so good-natured when they see Baker next time.
“When I made the layup, I had the same feeling I had last year when I made the shot,” said Baker, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds. “It came right back to me.”
Georgia Tech’s last gasp was an airball jumper from guard Lewis Clinch. After Mike Scott iced the game with two free throws and time expired, Virginia’s players celebrated.
“As I told them, [we] can claim a share of first place for a little while,” said Leitao, grinning. “It was a terrific game. Both teams played hard, well and to their strengths.”
After Landesberg drove hard to the rack for a 3-point play to put Virginia up 84-82 and Clinch missed a jumper at the other end with 46 seconds left, the game seemed like UVa’s to lose.
However, as Landesberg was trying to milk the clock on the ensuing possession, he bumped into teammate Jamil Tucker and fumbled the ball. Lawal picked it up and raced in for a dunk with 14 seconds left.
“I was trying to come off the screen and create something,” said Landesberg, who was once again spectacular, finishing with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists, “but nothing was there and I tried to pull it back out. While I was doing that, Jamil was like walking into my path and we collided.”
Through the early portion of the season, starting strong had been something of a problem for Virginia (6-4, 1-0 ACC). But it wasn’t on Sunday.
All five UVa starters scored at least a bucket as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 17-6 lead.
“We thought if we could push the basketball and get some early opportunities, that would be good for us,” Leitao said.
Virginia went cold, momentarily, as Georgia Tech went was able to tie the game at 24 on a dunk by Lawal (team-high 21 points). However, UVa — behind 14 first-half points from Landesberg and a surprising 10 off the bench from Mustapha Farrakhan — closed the half on a 14-7 spurt to lead 44-37 at the break.
Georgia Tech came out a changed team after the intermission. The Yellow Jackets (7-4, 0-1) opened on a 9-0 run to take a 46-44 lead. At two junctures, they opened up five-point leads, but Virginia kept hanging around.
“Both [Lewis] Clinch and [Iman] Shumpert were attacking us and that was costing us,” Leitao said. “We were a little slow in our rotations. We weren’t rebounding… but at some point, the whole bend-but-don’t-break methodology came true and they stepped up when they really had to.”
With just 15 seconds remaining, Landesberg found Tucker, who drilled a game-tying 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Tech had a final chance to win in regulation but Shumpert, who had missed two free throws on the
previous possession that could have given the Jackets a five-point lead (Tech was an atrocious 16 of 33 from the line for the game), missed a pull-up jumper.
That set the stage for Baker’s overtime heroics.
Leitao, for his part, doesn’t seem to care how uncoventional Baker’s game can seem at times.
“It goes in,” he said. “I don’t care if you kick it in to be honest with you. He’s been unorthodox, but he’s been a pretty good percentage shooter since he’s been here.
“However he shoots it, I’m comfortable with it.”
Dunks
Mustapha Farrakhan had a career-high 12 points off the bench. … Tucker tied his career high of 15 points. … Landesberg scored over 20 points for the sixth time in 10 games. … Georgia Tech outrebounded Virginia, 50-42.
... Sammy Zeglinski’s six rebounds and six assists were both career highs.