No. 23 Virginia pulls away to beat Stanford 70-55 for its third straight victory

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Thijs De Ridder scored 22 points, Chance Mallory added 13 and No. 23 Virginia pulled away to beat Stanford 70-55 on Saturday for its third straight victory.

Virginia (14-2, 3-1 ACC) led 41-34 at halftime, then used a 9-0 run early in the second half to increase its advantage to 51-37 with 15 minutes to play. The Cavaliers outscored the Cardinal 29-21 after the break and led by 22 points.

Ebuka Okorie, who had 31 points when the Cardinal (13-4, 2-2) edged Virginia Tech 69-68 on Wednesday and came in averaging more than 22 points, struggled to get going. He had just one point in the first 10 minutes, was scoreless in the second half and finished with 14.

Benny Gealer scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half for the Cardinal.

Malik Thomas added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists for Virginia, which failed to score 80 points for just the third time this season.

The Cavaliers are 10-0 at home this season and have won 11 in a row at John Paul Jones Arena dating to last season. Playing again without injured guard Jacari White (wrist), Virginia only went three deep into its bench.

Stanford: The Cardinal play at No. 17 North Carolina on Wednesday.

Virginia: Plays at its first ranked opponent this season when it visits No. 20 Louisville on Tuesday.

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