With 35 seconds left in the game and Virginia down by 4, I had my column essentially written. CBI this, CBI that. Not much about the game itself, since after all, it is the CBI. The 7,000-some empty seats at JPJ will attest to that.
In one fell swoop, Sean Singletary erased Old Dominion, and my column to go along with it, with 8 points in 26 seconds. No, that's not a typo.
It's too bad that it was the CBI, because a sold-out crowd at JPJ should have witnessed this circus ending, not the 6,460 who showed up. If you didn't make it to the game -- and considering the attendance in the student section, I feel pretty safe in saying you didn't -- you missed the best ending to a Virginia men's basketball game since the Duke game last year. Ignoring the difference in the quality of the opponent, this one was even better.
Never have I seen a player take over a game -- or at least the last 30 seconds -- the way Singletary did. Let me take you second-by-second through what happened, beginning with 35 seconds remaining in the second half, because unlike the ending to the Duke game, this one probably won't be on YouTube.
35 seconds. Old Dominion's senior Brandon Johnson -- who did not have a particularly memorable last 35 seconds, as you will soon find out -- misses the front-end of a one-and-one. Mamadi Diane grabs the rebound. Score: ODU 74, UVA 70.
35 to 30 seconds. Diane outlets to Singletary, who pushes the ball up court. With ease, he puts the ball in his left hand, drives baseline and draws a foul on Old Dominion's sophomore Gerald Lee with 30 seconds on the clock. Do you even need to ask if he made both free throws? Score: ODU 74, UVA 72.
30 to 28 seconds. Off the second free throw, Old Dominion in-bounds to redshirt senior Brian Henderson, who had a monster 26-point night on 10-17 shooting to lead all scorers. Two seconds later, he is fouled by Calvin Baker for Virginia's 10th team foul, putting Old Dominion in the double-bonus. Henderson, an 85.4 percent free-throw shooter coming into the game, steps up for his only two shots from the foul line of the night, but misses the first. The second falls, but of course now it's a one-possession game. ODU 75, UVA 72.
28 to 23 seconds. Virginia in-bounds to Singletary, who hustles the ball back up court once more. Old Dominion, offering a 2-3 zone as it had most of the night, is all over the senior stud. Junior Lars Mikalauskas sets a screen, and Singletary uses it to take a dribble to the top of the key. He gets off a fadeaway from about 22 feet with two players in his face and puts it in the bank. Literally. The ball clangs off the window of the backboard and in.
I fall out of my chair. Tailbone X-rays were negative.
The three "probably at any other angle, would have missed," Dave Leitao said. "But he banked it straight on."
Singletary said he called bank. I believe him. (Wouldn't you?) Score: ODU 75, UVA 75.
23 to 7 seconds. ODU in-bounds to the aforementioned Johnson. Johnson slowly dribbles up court, and at half-court, Singletary begins to dog him. Old Dominion coach Blain Taylor elects not to take a timeout, noting "we had discussed in practice yesterday, that if we were in that position we were not going to call a timeout." The ball swings around and comes back to Johnson.
Leitao's thoughts at this point: "I looked up, there's 22 seconds on the clock, 20, tie score, just hoping to get that stop," he said, noting that Virginia had a hard time defensively in the previous few trips. With the lackluster defense before this possession, "I wasn't 100 percent sure that we were going to get it, so I was a little concerned," he said.
6 seconds. Johnson has the ball in his left hand. He takes a step back, takes a dribble, then attempts to crossover to his right, but Singletary knows it's coming. He slaps it away from Johnson and comes up with the steal.
Johnson is "real deliberate with his moves," Singletary said. "When he took the retreat dribble, and I was playing him on the one side, I knew he was going to cross over, so I just put my hand down there, and he put the ball right in my hand."
"The ironic part about the steal is he took the ball from the Defensive Player of the Year who leads the Colonial Athletic Association in steals," Leitao noted. How fitting.
6 to 4 seconds. With Johnson chasing behind him, Singletary puts it into the high gear we are all so accustomed to seeing. He gets to the basket, leaps into the air, hangs, gets slapped by Johnson and -- you guessed it -- finishes the layup, and one.
"I was trying to foul him, make him earn it at the free-throw line," Johnson said. "He got the shot off, I fouled him, and luckily it went in, another bank shot."
4 seconds. Singletary nails the free throw for point number 8 since the 30-second mark. UVA 78, ODU 75.
The rest ... well, not much else to tell. Virginia smartly puts Old Dominion junior Jonathan Adams on the line instead of giving the Monarchs a chance to tie with a three. Adams makes the first but is called for a lane violation on the second. Baker is subsequently fouled and makes both free throws. Final score: UVA 80, ODU 76.
Many sportswriters -- myself included -- have given the CBI a hard time for being ... well ... the CBI.
Then again, I would show up to watch Sean Singletary play a game of horse, never mind suit up for another game at JPJ. He just might do something that makes your head spin.
"Everybody can have who they've got," Leitao said. "I'll take Sean Singletary. He continues to rewrite a story that's already a bestseller."
Sure, the final chapters of the story were not as exciting as we had hoped coming into Singletary's senior season.
On the other hand, yesterday's game makes for one hell of an epilogue.
Read More
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | 19 hours agoJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | YesterdayThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
Men’s soccer, totally discombobulated, capitulates early to No. 5 Pittsburgh
By Michael Liebermann | YesterdayPittsburgh set a program record for the quickest cluster of three goals.
