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Cavaliers Rally To Beat Hokies, 54-49
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Jan. 15, 2006
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Adrian Joseph made a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to snap a tie and give Virginia a wild 54-49 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday.
The Cavaliers (8-6, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 49-44 with 3:39 to play, but Sean Singletary scored the last five points in his own run of 13 straight Virginia points to tie it, and Joseph broke the tie with his third 3-pointer of the game.
The Hokies (10-7, 0-4) had two possessions to tie it, but 3-point tries by Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon both missed, allowing the Cavaliers to hold on.
Mamadi Diane’s two free throws with 7.4 seconds left clinched it.
Singletary and J.R. Reynolds led Virginia with 16 points each and Joseph had 11.
Dowdell had 16 points and Coleman Collins added 14 for the Hokies.
The Cavaliers finished 9-for-20 on 3-pointers, and Joseph’s was the biggest. With Singletary dominating on offense for Virginia at the time, Joseph found himself wide open in the left corner and launched the left-handed shot that silenced the arena.
It was a fitting end to a wild 121st game between the schools.
Virginia led 32-29 but hadn’t scored in more than 5 minutes when the game turned wild with just over 11 minutes left. Collins appeared to pull the Hokies within one with a baseline dunk, but he threw it down with such force that it got caught up in the net, which flipped it back out probably 15 feet above the basket.
When the officials waved off the basket, Hokies coach Seth Greenberg argued and got a technical foul. Reynolds’ two free throws gave the Cavaliers a 34-29 lead.
But it also brought the crowd to life, and the Hokies followed their lead.
When Reynolds was fouled with 10:58 left and made both shots, the referees noticed something had been thrown on the floor and told the public address announcer to warn the crowd that they could be called for a technical if anything else was thrown.
As the crowd booed lustily, Greenberg grabbed the microphone, told the crowd his team would play its hardest for the last 11 minutes and asked them to cooperate.
With Virginia Tech rallying to the front, they screamed their approval.
Chris Tucker hit a 10-footer on the baseline to start it, and after Singletary’s 3-pointer gave Virginia a 39-31 lead, the Hokies scored the next 11 points. Gordon tied it on a drive with 7:27 left, and Collins’ layup made it 41-39 with 6:41 to go.
Then, with Singletary heating up for the Cavaliers, it went to the wire.