A rather heated fight broke out early in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday night, resulting in the Cavaliers being ejected in a victory.
No. 11 Virginia defeated North Carolina State 90-61 on Tuesday. But things got heated and fast in the second half of that game.
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Less than three minutes into the second quarter, Virginia’s Sam Lewis and North Carolina State’s Darrion Williams had a brief confrontation at midfield. It’s unclear what caused it, but Lewis appeared to push Williams, and both he and Paul McNeil Jr. retaliated and pushed Lewis back. This caused chaos in the middle of the field, causing several coaches and officials to scatter.
NC State’s Scotty Ebube was ejected from the game for leaving the bench. He had not competed at the time. Lewis and Williams both received technical fouls and the game continued normally.
Despite the incident, Virginia had no problem winning by 29 points. The Cavaliers led all the way on Tuesday, holding the Wolfpack to just 19 points in the first half and had five players score in double figures. Thijs De Ridder scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and Lewis had 16 points and three rebounds.
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McNeil scored a team-high 22 points and 6 rebounds for North Carolina State, and Williams also scored 14 points. The Wolfpack fell to 19-9 on the season and this was their third loss in four games. The only win there, though, was a 24-point win over North Carolina last week.
Meanwhile, Virginia is quietly putting together an impressive run in the ACC. The Cavaliers have won nine straight and are 25-3 on the season. They are also second in the conference standings and will face No. 1 Duke next Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. A win there would put them in pole position in conference play heading into the final week of games.
“Virginia is a great team. They can go to the Final Four,” N.C. State coach Will Wade said. “They crushed us. They were better than us.
“If we played them 10 times, I’m not sure we would beat them. Maybe once.”