CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Mike Scott scored 22 points, Sylven Landesberg had 20 and Virginia sent Texas-Pan American to its 10th consecutive loss Tuesday night, 72-53.
The Cavaliers (8-4) led by as many as 21 in a sloppy second half and won their fourth in a row for the first time in two seasons. They will take the winning streak into their Atlantic Coast Conference opener at North Carolina State on Saturday afternoon.
Texas-Pan American (1-15), whose only victory was by 61-50 against Chattanooga in the South Padre Island Invitational on Nov. 27, trailed 40-23 at halftime and never cut the deficit into single digits thereafter. The Broncs were led by Jared Maree with 14 points.
Sammy Zeglinski added 13 points and six assists for the Cavaliers, who shot 56.6 percent from the field and were 7-for-12 from 3-point territory. Zeglinski made three 3s.
The game was essentially over at halftime.
The Broncs scored six straight points to pull even at 20 on Luis Valera's free throws with 10:05 left in the first half, then went cold. They went 1-for-9 with four turnovers the rest of the half as the Cavaliers outscored them 22-3 to open a 40-23 lead by halftime.
Landesberg, Scott and Zeglinski each scored six points in the burst.
The Cavaliers extended their advantage to 53-32 on a three-point play by Landesberg with 14:04 to play, and then first-year coach Tony Bennett substituted freely the rest of the way.
In all, 12 Cavaliers played, and eight of them scored.
Valera finished with 11 points and Nick Weiermiller had 10 for the Broncs.
