By Barney Breen-Portnoy Cavalier Daily Senior Writer RALEIGH, N.C. -- Just three days after scoring 40 points against Wake Forest, senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds exploded for 24 second half points as Virginia notched its first ACC road victory of the season with a 71-58 win at N.C. State.
Reynolds finished with 29 points, marking the seventh time this season he has scored 20 or more points.
"We needed this win bad," Reynolds said. "The team needed somebody had to step up and I knew that I needed to be that guy."
Junior point guard Sean Singletary contributed 27 points in the winning effort. Sophomore forward Laurynas Mikalauskas added six while senior forward Jason Cain tallied five.
"We go as far as our two guards can take us," Coach Dave Leitao said. "Sean's display early and J.R's display in the second half were nothing short of phenomenal. They were able not only to stabilize us, but to make big shot after big shot and big play after big play, free throws, three-pointers, and just gave us an opportunity to win."
The Cavaliers (12-6, 4-2 ACC) led 26-19 after a first half in which both teams struggled offensively. Virginia went a span of nearly ten minutes at the end of the half without scoring a field goal before Singletary drilled a three-pointer with four seconds left.
"The game got ugly there for a bit," Leitao said. "I credit our defense for stabilizing us."
Virginia extended its lead to 42-30 early in the second half. But an 11-0 N.C. State run cut that lead to one point with about 11 minutes remaining.
That is when Reynolds decided to take the game over and put the Wolfpack away. He scored 20 of Virginia's next 22 points as the Cavaliers built a comfortable margin that N.C. State (11-8, 1-5 ACC) was unable to overcome.
"Once the first shot went in, I got into a little rhythm and just kept it going," Reynolds said.
In the final minutes, Virginia converted 11 of 12 free throw attempts to seal the victory.
Leitao was extremely pleased with his team's defensive effort.
"I thought our defense was pretty solid except for a couple of stretches," he said. "It easily could have been a situation where we couldn't score and couldn't score, but the defense kept us stabilized and kept them off-balance."
The win was the first ACC road win for Leitao outside the state of Virginia. Last season, Virginia's only ACC road victory took place at Virginia Tech.
"It's pretty big for our psyche, especially for the young guys, to get a win on the road," Singletary said. "It's going to help keep our confidence high."
Freshman forward Brandon Costner led the Wolfpack with 14 points. Sophomore guard Courtney Fells and sophomore forward Ben McCauley added 11 points apiece.
Reynolds has now led the team in scoring nine times this season. The season sweep of N.C. State avenges last year's lone loss to the Wolfpack. With the win, the top of the pack in the ACC remains muddled: Boston College, North Carolina and Virginia Tech are on top with one loss, while Clemson, Virginia and Duke each have two losses.
Virginia's next test will be a 1 p.m. showdown on Sunday at Clemson. Last year, the Cavaliers split with the Tigers, with the home team winning each game. Clemson opened the season 16-0 before losing twice earlier in the month.
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