Virginia vs. Belmont: Score and Twitter Reaction From March Madness 2015

The No. 15 seed Belmont Bruins were within two points of the Virginia Cavaliers with four minutes and 36 seconds remaining on Friday afternoon. Then, the second-seeded Cavs turned up the defensive pressure and pulled out a 79-67 victory in the second round of the 2015 NCAA tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Virginia's deliberate tempo and at times patchy shooting allowed Belmont to remain in the game until the final few minutes. The Bruins were down by as many as 14 points in the second half before nearly taking the lead.

As ESPN noted, it would've been a nearly monumental upset. Belmont had a less than 3 percent chance of winning heading into the game:

Coincidentally, the Bruins' run coincided with Cavs guard Malcolm Brogdon going ice cold. Brogdon led the way in the first half, scoring 16 points, but it wasn't until the 7:28 mark of the second that he got his first point after halftime. He missed all six of his second-half field goals but went 6-of-6 from the foul line.

Brogdon's struggles opened the door for Belmont, and the Bruins nearly accomplished the improbable upset.

In the end, the win counts all the same for Virginia. The ACC regular-season champions got a bit of a scare, but they turned it on during the final stretch and eliminated any drama.

Grantland's Mark Titus joked that the Cavaliers crush the dreams of a Cinderella like few teams in the tournament:

"

Madness! 15-seed Belmont only trails 2-seed Virginia 64-60 with 3:59 left. Bruins' chance to win was 2.6% before game started.

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 20, 2015"

"We've been in those situations a whole lot, and we do have experience," said head coach Tony Bennett after the game, per Mike Griffith of MLive.com. "Our guys have been in those spots in a lot of games. We weren't perfect, we weren't pretty, but we had enough grit to come away with a tough one."

As a team, the Cavaliers shot 45.6 percent from the field, which is right around their season average.

Their defense ran into problems, though, as Belmont shot an impressive—given the circumstances—47.4 percent from the field. That's roughly 11 percentage points higher than what opponents shot against Virginia during the regular season.

Craig Bradshaw led the way for the Bruins, scoring 25 points and adding nine rebounds. The junior also won the hearts and minds of college basketball fans everywhere when he banked in a three-pointer in the second half.

Bradshaw was adamant that he called the bank, per ESPN's J.A. Adande:

Kent Babb of The Washington Post was particularly taken by Bradshaw's eccentricities:

Bradshaw didn't get much support from his teammates, though. He accounted for 37 percent of Belmont's made field goals and 62.5 percent of its made three-pointers.

One man alone can't beat a team as defensively sound as Virginia.

Quite a bit of talk before the game centered on how healthy Justin Anderson was. He returned from a pinkie injury in the ACC tournament but went scoreless in 26 minutes on the floor over two games.

On Friday, the junior came off the bench to score 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting and grab five boards. CBS Sports Network's Jon Rothstein called it a "major step forward":

If Anderson isn't yet back to 100 percent, then he's nearly there, which will be important when Virginia faces tougher opposition.

The Cavaliers will take on the seventh-seeded Michigan State Spartans in the next round. Bennett didn't waste any time playing up how difficult a matchup that will be for his team, per Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press:

The Spartans beat the Georgia Bulldogs, 70-63, earlier in the day. According to KenPom.com, Michigan State ranks 15th in adjusted offense, so it could present a solid foil for Virginia.

It will definitely be one of the more interesting chess matches in the round of 32 as Bennett matches wits with Tom Izzo.