Thijs De Ridder had 26 points and eight rebounds and Chance Mallory added 16 points and eight boards as Virginia defeated Northwestern 83-78 on Friday at the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
Malik Thomas had 14 points for Virginia (5-0), which overcame 37.5% shooting, including a 5-for-24 effort from long range. The Wildcats shot 46.6% from the floor but finished the game 1-for-10.
K.J. Windham’s 3-pointer brought the Wildcats within three points with 11 seconds left before the Cavaliers closed the game from the free-throw line, where they shot 30-for-36.
Jayden Reid paced Northwestern (4-1) with 25 points while Arrinten Page had 20 points and six rebounds before fouling out in the closing seconds. Wildcats leading scorer Nick Martinelli had nine points on 3-for-12 shooting.
Northwestern opened the second half on a 19-8 run, starting 7-for-7 from the floor to take a 55-48 lead. While Page was steady with five points during the run on a dunk and trey on back-to-back possessions, Reid had the hottest hand with seven points during the spurt.
Virginia took a 63-61 lead with 9:35 left, as Dallin Hall’s 3-pointer off a De Ridder block capped an 8-0 run. That set a tight finish in motion in a game that featured six ties and 12 lead changes.
Hall (11 points) swished a trey with 2:31 left to put the Cavaliers ahead 74-70. Reid had the chance to tie the game with 1:42 to go but split a pair of free throws.
Foul trouble impacted both sides. De Ridder fouled out with 5:44 left and Mallory followed suit four minutes later.
Virginia outrebounded Northwestern 49-25.
Both teams built leads of at least seven points in the first half before the Cavaliers took a 40-36 edge into the break. Reid scored four points as part of a 6-2 run for Northwestern over the last 1:30.
Frontcourt players starred for both sides, with De Ridder collecting 17 points and seven rebounds and Page scoring 13 points in the half.
The multi-team event is not a traditional, bracketed tournament. Virginia is slated to face Butler on Sunday and Northwestern will play South Carolina.
