No. 11 Tennessee’s big second half overwhelms Virginia

Chaz Lanier fueled a strong second half as No. 11 Tennessee ran away with a 64-42 win over Virginia on Thursday night at the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.Lanier made four of his six 3-pointers and scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, helping the Volunteers (5-0) hand the Cavaliers (3-1) their first loss under interim coach Ron Sanchez.Tennessee will face No. 13 Baylor (4-1) in Friday’s championship game and Virginia will meet No. 22 St. John’s (4-1) in the consolation game.Tennessee outscored Virginia 15-3 to start the second half, opening a 37-24 lead. Lanier scored the first 11 of those points for the Volunteers, including the 1,000th point of the North Florida transfer’s career.The Cavaliers clawed back to within 39-34 on Taine Murray’s 3-pointer with 10:48 left, but Igor Milicic Jr. answered with a triple and Tennessee quickly regained control.Milicic, who played at Virginia as a freshman and then transferred to play for Sanchez at Charlotte, finished with 14 points against his former school and coach.An 18-0 run ballooned Tennessee’s lead to 64-38 before coach Rick Barnes emptied his bench.The Volunteers scored 30 points off 18 turnovers and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. Virginia turned Tennessee’s seven turnovers into only two points.

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