No. 3 Duke Falls to Virginia

Virginia, desperate for a victory to keep alive its NCAA tournament hopes, wiped out a 12-point deficit over the final seven minutes and defeated No. 3 Duke, 87-84, Thursday night at Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers’ victory enabled Maryland to clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Virginia (17-9, 7-8 in the ACC) began the game having lost seven of nine. It seemed another loss was about to come as Duke (25-3, 12-3) took a 77-65 lead.

But Virginia held the Blue Devils scoreless for more than 61/2 minutes as part of the game-closing 22-7 run.

Keith Jenifer’s basket with 1:13 to play gave the Cavaliers the lead for good at 78-77. After they increased the lead to 85-82, Duke’s Jason Williams had a chance to tie the score with 12 seconds left.

Williams was fouled as he converted his miss, but missed the free throw.

Roger Mason Jr. rebounded for the Cavaliers and converted two free throws for an 87-84 lead.

Duke inbounded and Williams lost the ball, which was grabbed by Mason. He was fouled and missed two free throws, but Williams’ shot from halfcourt missed badly at the buzzer.

Carlos Boozer scored a career-high 33 points for Duke, but didn’t get a shot over the last 8:47.

Mason had 22 points for Virginia and Adam Hall had 21, 12 in the closing run.

OTHER GAMES

Villanova 67, Syracuse 61--Brooks Sales scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds as the Wildcats (15-11, 6-9 in Big East) held off the Orangemen (20-9, 9-6) at Philadelphia.

Wyoming 76, Brigham Young 60--Marc Bailey scored 18 points for the Cowboys (19-7, 10-3 in Mountain West) at Laramie, Wyo. The Cougars (17-9, 7-6) have yet to win a conference game on the road.

Utah 72, Colorado State 62--Jeff Johnsen scored 21 points at Fort Collins, Colo., as the Utes (20-6, 10-3) defeated the Rams (11-17, 2-11). Utah will play at Wyoming Saturday to decide the Mountain West championship.