PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The Virginia Cavaliers (15-15) ended their season with a disappointing 65-49 loss to the Stanford Cardinal (16-13) in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament. With the loss, the Cavaliers finish the season with a .500 record and only two road wins in the 2005-06 campaign.
"We struggled that way all year long, obviously only winning one [conference] game on the road," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.
Virginia's 49 points is the lowest total for the Cavaliers on the year. Virginia's previous low output of 51 points came in a 30-point loss to Arizona on Nov. 27, 2005. In the Arizona loss, only two Virginia players scored in double figures. Against the Cardinal, the Cavaliers managed to score fewer points despite having one more double digit scorer. Forward Laurynas Mikalauskas scored 11 points to go along with 12 for Reynolds and 13 for Singletary.
"I was in the right place at the right moments," Mikalauskas said of his performance. "It doesn't really matter now how many points I scored, we still lost the game. Now we have to get ready for next year."
The Cavaliers were able to secure an early 6-0 lead to open the game. That lead, however, would be the only Virginia lead of the game. The Cavaliers suffered through numerous scoreless stretches in the half, the first coming shortly after they took the early lead. The Cardinal battled back and took a lead it would not surrender seven minutes into the game.
Stanford used a 9-0 run in the middle of the half to take control of the game. Mikalauskas finally broke Virginia's five-minute scoreless streak when he scored a lay-up with 5:20 remaining in the half.
"We weren't cutting hard and being aggressive," Reynolds said of Virginia's offense. "We didn't get to the free throw line a lot. It's very tough."
Virginia's starting backcourt of Singletary and Reynolds, the team's two leading scorers, shot a combined 5-18 in the half. Singletary, the team's leading scorer, struggled through a 1-8 performance from the field in the first half. The shooting struggles were shared by the rest of the Virginia team, which shot 1-10 from behind the three-point line. Mikalauskas was the lone Cavalier to shoot above 50 percent in the game on his 5-7 shooting. Adrian Joseph was 3-6 and scored seven points.
Despite Virginia's offensive woes, the Cavaliers had a chance to pull to within 10 points before halftime. But in a microcosm of Virginia's opening half, Singletary's driving attempt for a lay-up was swatted out of bounds and despite contact, no foul was called.
Virginia did not start the second half playing any better offensively, as Stanford extended its lead to a 19 point margin. The Cardinal pulled ahead 46-27 when Anthony Goods hit a three-point shot. Goods' shot was part of a stellar three-point shooting night for Stanford as the team combined to shoot 7-14 from three-point range. Following Goods' basket, Singletary scored seven consecutive points by himself to cut the deficit to 12 points, 46-34. The Cavaliers could not build on the momentum generated by the first team All-ACC player, however, and Stanford scored two quick baskets to pull ahead by 16.
"We definitely had momentum, but we just couldn't get it over the hump," Singletary said. "We just had no energy"
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