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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Sylven Landesberg always attracts a lot of attention on offense, and on a night when he couldn't shoot, he found Virginia teammates that could. The whole team then made it really hard on North Carolina State to do the same in the second half.

Mike Scott had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Virginia held N.C. State scoreless for more than 7 minutes in the second half on the way to a 59-47 victory Wednesday night.

Landesberg made just 2 of 10 shots, his first single digit scoring game of the season, but made everyone around him better as coach Tony Bennett has challenged him to do.

"He did a great job of making the next pass," Bennett said of his 18.2-point scorer. "He got guys wide open looks. Nine assists, six rebounds, made his free throws. Solid."

Virginia (14-6, 5-2 ACC) regained a share of first place in the conference with No. 10 Duke, and completed a season sweep of the series with the Wolfpack.

The Blue Devils can move back in front by beating No. 21 Georgia Tech on Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the Cavaliers are still where no one thought they'd be.

Especially, it seems, with defense leading the way.

"That's what coach Bennett has preached to us from day one, and with every game, we get more confident with the system. We base our success on our defense," Jerome Meyinsse said.

N.C. State (14-9, 2-6) led 28-25 at halftime, but managed just 19 points in the second half, none during a stretch when Virginia turned a 32-29 deficit into a 40-32 lead.

Richard Howell led N.C. State with 14 points and Tracy Smith had 12. Smith was scoring easily in the first half, but went to the bench with three fouls during the burst.

"We had trouble scoring even when Tracy came back in the game," Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said. "I thought Richard Howell did a good job of helping him, but other than that, we didn't have much help. ... Our perimeter guys right now are just not playing well."

Mustapha Farrakhan added 11 points and Meyinsse 10 for Virginia, and Farrakhan brought the crowd to life with a nine-point flurry in a 3-minute span down the stretch.

He hit a 3-pointer, made a huge dunk over Javier Gonzalez and was fouled, then added another 3-pointer, the latter giving the Cavaliers a 51-38 lead with 5:28 to play.

The dunk, especially, seemed to energize the crowd, but also Farrakhan, who has struggled to connect from the outside in recent games and seemed to really need the confidence boost.

"I just had a lot of emotion and built-up stress in me," he said. "It just felt great."

Most teammates watching it unfolding from the bench were even surprised.

"That was clearly a message," Meyinsse said. "That's probably the greatest dunk I've ever seen in person. I always knew he had athleticism, and he got to show everyone tonight."

Calvin Baker said the dunk gave him flashbacks to the summer.

"I walked up to him and showed him the goose bumps on my arms," he said. "I would give him a 10. He actually did that to me over the summer. Maybe that was why I had goose bumps."

The Cavaliers trailed 32-29 after Smith's inside basket with 16:55 left, but then the Cavaliers tightened the defensive screws and started getting some shots to fall.

Beginning with a runner by Calvin Baker, Virginia scored the next 11 points and held the Wolfpack scoreless to open a 40-32 advantage. Sammy Zeglinski had a 10-footer and Meyinsse a three-point play in the run, and Scott scored the last four.

After Dennis Horner gave N.C. State its first points in 7:17 with a layup, Farrakhan hit a 3-pointer for Virginia, starting his scoring flurry that kept Virginia comfortably ahead.

The Wolfpack trailed 51-38 with 5:28 to play and never made a charge again.

N.C. STATE (14-9) — T.Smith 5-13 2-5 12, Horner 3-6 1-2 7, Degand 2-3 0-0 4, Wood 1-6 0-0 3, Mays 0-4 0-0 0, Howell 5-9 4-7 14, Painter 0-0 0-0 0, Gonzalez 2-6 2-2 7, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 9-16 47.

VIRGINIA (14-6) — Scott 6-9 3-4 15, Meyinsse 4-6 2-2 10, Evans 0-0 0-2 0, Zeglinski 3-12 0-0 8, Landesberg 2-10 3-3 7, Farrakhan 4-6 1-1 11, Baker 2-6 0-1 5, Sene 0-2 0-0 0, Sherrill 1-2 0-0 3, Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 9-13 59.

Halftime—N.C. State 28-25.
3-point goals—N.C. State 2-11 (Wood 1-4, Gonzalez 1-5, Mays 0-2), Virginia 6-16 (Farrakhan 2-3, Zeglinski 2-8, Baker 1-2, Sherrill 1-2, Jones 0-1).
Fouled out—Meyinsse.
Rebounds—N.C. State 30 (Howell, T.Smith 8), Virginia 40 (Scott 10).
Assists—N.C. State 6 (Wood 3), Virginia 14 (Landesberg 9).
Total fouls—N.C. State 17, Virginia 19.
A—10,092.