Captain Hall rights Virginia’s ship

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia’s lead was still 11, but North Carolina State was trying to rally and a sense of unease was growing at John Paul Jones Arena. There were eight minutes to play, and the Wolfpack were on an 11-2 run.

For Devon Hall, that meant time to do something.

He got the ball on the right baseline, drove hard and laid it in. Thirty seconds later, after a turnover, he scored on another drive, was fouled and converted the three-point play, allowing the No. 3 Cavaliers to feel a little better, up 52-36, in a 68-51 victory Sunday night.

“I thought he righted the ship,” Coach Tony Bennett said.

A fifth-year senior and one of three captains, Hall saw it more as doing his job.

“I’ve been here for five years and so that’s the time where a leader steps up,” he said after scoring a career-best 25 points.

Kyle Guy added 17 points and Isaiah Wilkins had 10 for the Cavaliers (16-1, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who were unranked to start the season. Virginia also has won 11 consecutive regular-season meetings against the Wolfpack.

Hall finished 7 for 9 from the field, including 4 of 5 on three-pointers, in topping his previous high of 20 points.

“Devon, he certainly answered when it got to those points,” Bennett said. “He played a heck of a game.”

Torin Dorn scored 16 points to lead N.C. State (12-6, 2-3), which arrived with a 3-0 record against ranked teams. The Wolfpack has beaten the No. 2 team twice — Arizona on Nov. 22 and Duke on Jan. 6 — and was coming off a 78-77 victory against No. 19 Clemson, but they had a difficult time getting much going against the nation’s top defense.