CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- With one second left, the ball clanked off the rim and fell into the hands of Durand Scott. He struggled to get off one final shot to win the game. But the buzzer sounded before he could get the ball out of his hands, and it was all over.

The University of Miami struggled to score in the first half. The Hurricanes made a valiant comeback attempt in the second half but fell one point short, losing 52-51 to No. 21 Virginia on Saturday night.

Down by one point with 13 seconds remaining, UM coach Jim Larranaga called timeout to set up a play. Scott drove up the left side and put the ball up despite not getting a clean look. When it didn’t go in, he grabbed the rebound.

But Virginia’s Sammy Zeglinski tied him up, and Scott couldn’t get off one more shot before the game ended.

“That’s the difference,” Larranaga said. “One possession, one shot, one play.”

In its first ACC game of the season, UM (9-5) had a four-game winning streak snapped and lost for the first time since Dec. 10 at West Virginia.

Virginia (14-1, 1-0), which has the nation’s second-best scoring defense, allowing only 50.4 points per game, stifled Miami’s offense in the first half.

The Hurricanes went almost nine minutes without a field goal, as the Cavaliers went on a 20-7 run and went to the locker room with a 26-17 lead. The Hurricanes’ 51 points were a season-low.

“It was great defense,” said Scott, who finished with 12 points. “They packed the lane really well.”

But UM chipped away at Virginia’s lead in the second half. The Canes found Reggie Johnson open under the basket, and he scored six of his seven points early in the second half.

“We had some lapses defensively in the second half,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “It seemed like [our defense] vanished.”

Still, the Cavaliers found a way to win their 12th game in a row.

Larranaga said his players weren’t rushing to shoot as much in the second half and found more open shots. Scott tied the game at 40 with 7:57 left.

“Our guys did a good job battling back,” Larranaga said.

The 52 points allowed by UM was its second-best defensive effort of the season. Virginia went almost six minutes without scoring early in the game.

“I was proud of our guys defensively that we stepped up a little bit [Saturday night],” Larranaga said. “We haven’t been playing that caliber of defense our first 13 games. It’s something we can build upon.”

Kenny Kadji added 14 points and 10 rebounds for UM. Mike Scott led Virginia with 23 points. This was the first game Larranaga coached in the state of Virginia since leaving George Mason after last season.

“I have friends back here, both in Charlottesville and Fairfax. But this is a business trip,” Larranaga said. “I can talk to my friends after the game and after the season.”