Virginia Extends Its Postseason by Edging Richmond

AP Sports
Published: March 18, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - It may not be the big dance or even
the medium dance, but for Sean Singletary, it’s a chance to stay on
the floor.
The stellar senior scored 18 points, including a go-ahead jumper
with 1:16 to play, to keep his Virginia team in postseason play
with a 66-64 win over Richmond Tuesday night in an opening-round
game of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational tournament.
“You definitely always want to keep playing,” said Singletary,
only the third three-time first-team All-ACC selection in school
history. “Although this might be the lesser of the three
tournaments, there are a lot of teams that aren’t playing at all
right now.”
For a while it looked like Tuesday’s was going to be
Singletary’s last game.
Dan Geriot scored 10 points during a 16-5 run that gave Richmond
(16-15) a 61-49 lead with 8:41 remaining.
Virginia answered with a 14-3 run to pull to 64-63, with 3:04
left. Singletary’s go-ahead jumper put the Cavaliers up 65-64, and
the Spiders missed two shots and turned the ball over with 5
seconds left.
“We talked about it at timeouts, and we all realized that this
is not how we want to end our season,” senior forward Adrian
Joseph said. “Even though it’s the CBI, we don’t ever want to
lose, especially at home.”
Kevin Anderson’s two foul shots gave Richmond a 33-31 lead at
halftime, and Singletary’s two foul shots brought Virginia to 45-44
with 14:11 to play.
Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney said it hurt that his team
couldn’t get to the foul line in the second half. The Spiders were
3-for-4 at the free throw line in the second half, compared to 9 of
17 shooting for Virginia. The Cavaliers were 6 of 11 in free throw
shooting during the final 8½-minute 17-3 run.
“In the last minute, they had four fouls to give, and we were
in the double bonus, and that really changed the game, being able
to get to the foul line,” Mooney said.
Geriot scored 22 points for Richmond, David Gonzalvez added 13
and Anderson had 11.
Mamadi Diane had 15 points and Jamil Tucker added 10 to help
Virginia (16-15) advance to a quarterfinals matchup against Old
Dominion, which beat Rider 68-65.
Virginia Coach Dave Leitao said the short lead time before the
game - teams only found out a day earlier who they would play -
meant his team wasn’t prepared defensively. He is glad he’ll have
till Monday to get ready for Old Dominion.
Still, Leitao said he knows in postseason play momentum means
nothing.
“If your team is hot, all it takes is another hot team to knock
you out,” he said. “So you just have to find a way to win and
move on.”
And even if they’re not playing for the national championship,
they intend to do that.
“It’s tough because it isn’t the NCAA tournament, or even the
NIT, but it is a chance to play more basketball, and we have to
stay focused,” Joseph said.