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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Sixth-ranked Virginia opened the game on an 11-0 run and never looked back, defeating visiting Bucknell 95-61 on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Luke Soden hit four of his five 3-point attempts and led three Bison in double figures with 12 points, while Chance Mallory paced a balanced Virginia ledger with 16 to go along with six assists.
Preseason ACC Player of the Year Thijs De Ridder scored 15 points, Nolan Adekunle scored 14, and Johan Grunloh had 17 and nine rebounds for the 4-0 Cavaliers, who were coming off a 91-72 rout of No. 12 Arkansas on Sunday.
Aleksander Pachucki shared team-high honors with Soden with 12 points, and Rocco Lamuno also hit double figures with 10 along with four assists and four rebounds. The Bison had 16 assists on 20 made field goals and hit 11 3-pointers in 33 attempts.
"I have great respect for the Virginia program," said Bucknell coach John Griffin after the game. "They are tremendously physical, and they have older guys who always seem to make the right decision. From our perspective, I was proud of our fight. They hit us early, but once we found our footing we did some positive things. We scheduled teams like this early in the season for a reason, and now we need to take the positives and learn and grow."
Bucknell (0-3) shot 35.1% overall while the veteran Cavaliers shot 50.7%. Virginia was 12-for-35 from the arc while piling up a 46-16 edge in points in the paint.
De Ridder's layup gave the Cavaliers that early 11-0 lead before Lamuno got the Bison on the board with a 3-pointer. Seven of Bucknell's 10 first-half field goals came from beyond the arc, including two each from Lamuno, Pachucki, and Soden.
Lamuno's second trey with 1:11 left cut what had been a 24-point Virginia lead down to 18 at 49-31, but Grunloh made a layup, and after a Bison miss with five seconds remaining, Mallory raced the ball down the floor and beat the buzzer with a layup.
A 3-pointer from Patrick O'Brien and a layup from Pachucki gave the Bison five of the first eight points of the second half, but a quick 6-0 spurt gave Virginia a 62-36 lead and forced a Bucknell timeout. The Cavaliers went on to lead by as many as 37. Virginia has now scored at least 89 points in all four of its wins this season.
Bucknell will now get its next three games at home, starting on Friday night against Columbia. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
BUCKNELL (0-3)
O'Brien 2-6 1-2 7, Soroa Schaller 3-8 0-1 6, Lamuno 3-7 2-2 10, Pachucki 5-13 0-0 12, Williams 1-3 2-2 4, Soden 4-6 0-1 12, Marshall 0-4 1-2 1, Marten-Coney 1-5 2-2 4, Kocagozoglu 1-2 2-2 5, Welch 0-2 0-0 0, Kennard 0-1 0-0 0, Lange 0-0 0-0 0, Youakim 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 10-14 61.
VIRGINIA (4-0)
Adekunle 5-6 1-2 14, De Ridder 6-10 0-1 15, Grunloh 5-9 3-6 13, Lewis 2-3 0-0 4, Mallory 6-9 1-3 16, Carrere 3-8 0-0 7, Vide 2-6 2-2 6, Dixon 3-7 0-0 7, Gertrude 2-5 0-0 5, Anya 0-1 2-2 2, Ibe 2-2 0-0 4, Barksdale 0-0 0-0 0, Harmon 0-2 0-0 0, Lang 1-2 0-0 2, Rotter 0-0 0-0 0, Watson 0-1 0-0 0, Odom 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 37-73 9-16 95.
Halftime--Virginia 53-31. 3-Point Goals--Bucknell 11-33 (Soden 4-5, Lamuno 2-4, O'Brien 2-6, Pachucki 2-9, Kocagozoglu 1-1, Kennard 0-1, Marten-Coney 0-1, Marshall 0-2, Soroa Schaller 0-2, Williams 0-2), Virginia 12-35 (Adekunle 3-4, De Ridder 3-5, Mallory 3-5, Dixon 1-3, Gertrude 1-3, Carrere 1-5, Anya 0-1, Lang 0-1, Lewis 0-1, Watson 0-1, Grunloh 0-2, Harmon 0-2, Odom 0-2). Rebounds--Bucknell 23 (Marten-Coney 5), Virginia 50 (Grunloh 9). Assists--Bucknell 16 (Lamuno, Marten-Coney 4), Virginia 30 (Gertrude 7). Total Fouls--Bucknell 17, Virginia 18. A--11,832 (14,593).