Elijah Saunders scored 22 points and Isaac McKneely added 14 as Virginia rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat North Carolina State 70-67 on Tuesday in Charlottesville, Va.Andrew Rohde scored nine of his 11 points after halftime for the Cavaliers (8-5, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who led by 10 with four minutes left before holding off a late flurry by the Wolfpack (8-5, 1-1).Jayden Taylor tallied 14 points to lead NC State, while Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Marcus Hill each netted 12.The Wolfpack drew within three points in the final minute and had a chance to tie after Saunders’ missed free throw with three seconds left, but Michael O’Connell’s long-distance heave was well short.Virginia trailed 43-29 just over a minute into the second half before Saunders scored the first nine points of a rally that helped the Cavaliers pull even at 46 with 13:04 to play. The teams traded the next few points before Ishan Sharma’s 3-pointer sparked a decisive eight-point run that vaulted Virginia ahead 59-51.The Cavaliers shot 56.5 percent in the second half while hitting seven of their nine 3-pointers in the game, while the Wolfpack shot just 33.3 percent and went 2-for-12 from distance after the break.NC State jumped ahead 19-13 following an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers from O’Connell and Breon Pass. The margin reached double digits on Taylor’s free throws that made it 29-19 with eight minutes left in the first half.
