Mamadi Diakite scored 12 points as fifth-ranked Virginia pulled away from a defensive tussle to defeat No. 7 North Carolina 56-47 on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.

Guard Tomas Woldetensae scored a season-high 11 points and Francisco Caffaro had a season-best 10 points for Virginia, which was facing a nationally ranked team for the first time this season.

Virginia (8-1, 2-0 ACC) reached the 50-point mark for the first time in a four-game stretch (reaching that level with 4:40 remaining). The Cavaliers are one of four teams without an ACC loss this season.

Woldetensae was 3-for-21 on 3s coming into the game and then drained his first three 3-point attempts.

Cole Anthony's 12 points and Armando Bacot's 11 points paced the Tar Heels (6-3, 1-1), who had a second-half stretch of about eight minutes without a field goal.

It was a contrast to North Carolina's first ACC game last month against Notre Dame when Anthony scored 34 points.

Virginia has won five consecutive games in the series.

The Tar Heels committed a series of fouls on Virginia jump shooters, allowing the Cavaliers to extend the margin to 45-35 with 8:34 remaining.

Both teams were coming off lopsided losses Wednesday night as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, with Virginia falling at Purdue while North Carolina dropped a home game to No. 6 Ohio State.

North Carolina has lost consecutive games for the first time since losing to Miami and Duke to end the 2017-18 regular season.

Bacot, a freshman forward who had been mostly ruled out for the game by coach Roy Williams two days earlier after sustaining a sprained ankle Wednesday night, was in the starting lineup.

Virginia held a 5-3 lead after seven minutes, with each team making one field goal by that stage. The Cavaliers led 12-5 almost 12 minutes in.

The Tar Heels scored seven straight points to pull within 17-16. Virginia was up 24-18 at the break.

In the first half, North Carolina shot 7-for-23 (0-for-8 on 3s) with eight turnovers.

This was the 11th time the teams met with both in the top 10. This was the fourth meeting in a row in that situation when Virginia held the higher ranking.

--Field Level Media