Chance Mallory and Sam Lewis each scored 20 points as No. 9 Virginia pulled away for a 97-72 victory against Northeastern on Friday night in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (2-0) scored 22 points off 19 turnovers by the Huskies (0-2) and recorded 26 assists on 34 field goals.
It was a career high in scoring for Mallory, who added five assists, four steals and three 3-pointers. Thijs De Ridder had 16 points, Johann Grunloh scored 13 and Elijah Gertrude added 10 off the bench.
Rashad King scored a game-high 26 points and Louis Bond had a career-high 23 to lead the Huskies, who got only four points from their bench.
After trailing by 13 in the first half, Northeastern pulled within 43-38 on Bond’s jumper early in the second half.
Virginia responded with seven straight points on a Mallory 3-pointer and two De Ridder layups, and the Huskies never threatened again.
The Cavaliers led 74-53 on De Ridder’s fast-break dunk with 9:31 left and Virginia went on to lead by as many as 27 points.
The Cavaliers shot 54.0% (34 of 63) the field and 38.7% (12 of 31) from 3-point range.
The Huskies were outrebounded 37-27, outscored 44-22 in the paint and shot 26.1% (6 of 23) from downtown.
Neither team scored for nearly three minutes, and the game was tied 2-2 at the first media timeout with 15:51 left in the opening half.
Virginia missed its first seven shots from 3-point distance before Grunloh’s triple tied it at 9-9 with 12:40 to play.
The Cavaliers grabbed their first lead at 20-18 on Mallory’s steal and transition layup with 8:23 remaining in the half.
De Ridder, who had 24 points in Tuesday’s rout of Drexel, didn’t score until his 3-pointer made it 30-25 at the 4:59 mark.
That was part of an 11-0 run that gave Virginia its largest lead of the half at 38-25. Northeastern trailed 38-31 at halftime.