Thijs De Ridder, Virginia outlast Northwestern at Greenbrier

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.

--Field Level Media