UVA defeats Richmond in CBI opener

By Andy Bitter
Media General News Service
Published: March 19, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — As far as March basketball is concerned, it’s certainly not the NCAA Tournament. The NIT is a prize by comparison.

But the new College Basketball Invitational is still postseason play, and after Virginia’s 66-64 come-from-behind victory against Richmond in the first round at the John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday, it means one thing.

“We’re fortunate enough to keep playing,” said Cavaliers guard Sean Singletary, who led all scorers with 18. “A lot of people aren’t playing right now.”

Virginia (16-15) shook off a listless first 32 minutes to score 17 of the game’s final 20 points, erasing a 12-point deficit to advance to the CBI’s second round on Monday, when it will host Old Dominion. A game time has not been announced.

The Cavaliers used an 11-3 run to get within 64-60 before Adrian Joseph sank a 3-pointer with 3:04 left to make it a one-point game. They got two straight defensive stops before Singletary made a runner with 1:16 left to give UVa its first lead since the first half at 65-64.

Virginia nearly gave the game away after Joseph missed a layup with 19 seconds left. Spiders forward Kevin Smith drove to the basket with nine seconds to go and drew contact as he went to the hoop.

“What was going through my mind is that I’ve seen this scene before,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “A guy driving against us late in the game and something negative happens again. I was kind of hoping that that wasn’t going to be like that.”

Leitao’s worries were put to rest. Smith didn’t get the call and missed the layup. Joseph was fouled after getting the rebound and made one of two from the line to push the lead to two with 7.8 seconds remaining.

The Spiders (16-15) were in a tough spot. Virginia only had two team fouls in the half and planned to foul them all the way down the court until time ran out. Instead, Richmond tried to throw a pass down court. It was a tad long for Smith and went out of bounds under UVa’s hoop, ending any last-second miracle.

“This is the time of year where you just try to win and move on,” Leitao said. “However you can scratch, claw and fight your way to a victory, half a point, a whole point better than the other team, you try to do that.”

The Cavaliers didn’t play like they wanted their season to continue during the first 32 minutes, falling victim to the Spiders’ back-cut offense numerous times. Kevin Anderson found Ryan Butler for a backdoor layup to make it 61-49 with 8:41 left.

But Virginia clamped down defensively. Leitao went with a small lineup, putting forward Jamil Tucker on Richmond big man Dan Geriot, who scored 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting and drew UVa’s post defenders away from the hoop with three 3-pointers.

The Spiders made one field goal the rest of the way. Virginia made defensive stops on nine of Richmond’s last 10 possessions.

Mamadi Diane scored 15 points and Tucker added 10 off the bench for the Cavaliers, who admittedly found it difficult to get up for the game.

The crowd of 4,002 was the smallest for a men’s game in the two-year history of the John Paul Jones Arena, not a promising sign for a tournament that hopes to some day compete with the NIT for non-NCAA Tournament teams.

“Mentally, in some instances it was (tough),” Joseph said. “You think about not being in the NCAA, not even the NIT. You’ve definitely got to get your mind set, get focused to play in the CBI.”

RICHMOND (16-15)

K.Smith 4-8 0-0 9, Moliva 1-2 0-0 2, Geriot 9-12 1-2 22, Gonzalvez 4-10 4-4 13, Anderson 2-10 7-8 11, Giddings 0-0 0-0 0, Sylla 2-6 0-0 5, Hovde 0-0 0-0 0, Harper 0-2 0-0 0, Butler 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 23-54 12-14 64.

VIRGINIA (16-15)

Joseph 1-4 1-2 4, Scott 2-4 1-1 5, Pettinella 0-0 1-2 1, Jones 0-0 1-2 1, Singletary 6-13 5-6 18, Farrakhan 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 2-6 0-2 4, Mikalauskas 1-1 0-0 2, Tucker 4-6 0-0 10, Diane 4-9 5-7 15, Tat 0-2 2-2 2, Meyinsse 2-2 0-2 4. Totals 22-47 16-26 66.

Halftime—Richmond 33-31. 3-Point Goals—Richmond 6-18 (Geriot 3-5, Sylla 1-2, K.Smith 1-2, Gonzalvez 1-5, Butler 0-1, Anderson 0-3), Virginia 6-14 (Tucker 2-4, Diane 2-5, Singletary 1-1, Joseph 1-2, Scott 0-1, Baker 0-1). Fouled Out—Butler. Rebounds—Richmond 25 (K.Smith 8), Virginia 33 (Diane, Tucker 5). Assists—Richmond 14 (Anderson, Sylla 4), Virginia 7 (Singletary 3). Total Fouls—Richmond 16, Virginia 14. A—4,022.