A somewhat dull game quickly became exciting as the Virginia men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point deficit to defeat Richmond 66-64 last night in the first game of the new College Basketball Invitational. The Cavaliers recorded a season-high eight blocks and used a 17-3 run over the final 8:30 to erase the Spiders' lead and squeak out a close win.
Virginia's first-round victory allows the team to advance to the second round, where the Cavaliers will face Old Dominion, which beat Rider 68-65 Monday at John Paul Jones Arena.
Senior Sean Singletary again carried the Cavaliers. The standout guard gave Virginia the lead in the closing minute when he penetrated into the lane and dropped in a tear-drop shot. Singletary's basket gave Virginia its first lead of the half. Richmond had two opportunities in the final minute to answer Singletary's basket, but the Spiders were unable to get past Virginia's defense. Singletary finished the game with 18 points on 6-13 shooting from the field, and junior forward Mamadi Diane added 15 points.
"I feel a bit off-balance now," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "This is the time of year where you just win and move on."
The first half was full of back-and-forth action but was short on energy and excitement. The crowd at John Paul Jones Arena was noticeably sparse and lacked the energy and excitement normally characteristic of JPJ. Furthermore, the Cavaliers put in a lackluster performance in the opening half.
"We were more listless than anything else for a better part of the game," Leitao said. "Because of that we got carved up a bit defensively. We'll chalk [the victory] up to our ability to find a way to win."
Virginia committed 11 first-half fouls, and the Spiders connected on 90 percent of their free throws. Richmond's performance at the free-throw line allowed the Spiders to stay within striking distance throughout the opening half.
Virginia, on the other hand, shot the ball well early on and came up with a number of turnovers that led to several easy Virginia points. Freshman center Mike Scott put the exclamation point on a Virginia steal with 5:30 left in the half. Scott received an outlet pass off a steal, accelerated towards the basket and slammed the ball home for the bucket and a foul, which brought the crowd at JPJ to its feet. A minute later, the freshman was able to complete the 3-point play to give Virginia a 27-20 lead.
Late in the first half, however, Singletary received his second foul, which forced Leitao to remove his star senior from the game. Singletary's absence led to sloppy and inconsistent play on Virginia's part and allowed the Spiders to pull ahead of Virginia in the closing minutes of the half. The Spiders ended the first half on an 11-2 run to give Richmond a 33-31 lead at halftime. Because of his foul trouble, Singletary was held to only 6 points in the period, despite shooting 60 percent from the field.
The second half did not begin well for the Cavaliers. Richmond came out of the locker room with a tremendous amount of energy and promptly drilled two 3-pointers on its first two possessions. Virginia faced a 6-point deficit less than two minutes into the half.
Singletary and Diane, however, answered Richmond's hot hand by hitting two 3-pointers themselves. Singletary and Diane's heroics drew Virginia to within 1 point of Richmond, 41-40, with a little more than 17 minutes remaining.
For the next several minutes both teams traded baskets and kept the game close; however, Richmond began to pull away from Virginia after making two 3-pointers and converting a Cavalier turnover into an easy layup. With less than 11 minutes remaining, the Spiders led Virginia 57-46.
Defensively, Virginia struggled to contain Richmond's potent outside shooters. The Spiders maintained their large lead over Virginia by continuing to find the open shooter and knocking down those shots. At times, Virginia appeared sluggish on defense, which led to several easy Richmond points. With less than nine minutes remaining, Richmond held an 12-point lead over Virginia, 61-49.
Richmond ran into the same problem Virginia encountered in the first half: foul trouble. Virginia crawled its way back into the game by connecting on a series of free throws over a two-minute span, and with six minutes remaining, Virginia had narrowed the Spiders' lead to 4, 62-58.
After the teams traded baskets during the next three minutes, senior forward Adrian Joseph drilled a huge 3-pointer from the corner. Joseph's bucket pulled Virginia to within 1, 64-63, with 2:32 remaining. Singletary's basket about a minute later gave Virginia the lead for good.
"They were able to get to the foul line" in the last six minutes, Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "In the last minute they had four fouls to give, and we were in the double bonus. I think that changed the game"
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