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Virginia Takes Down Heels 72-68
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Jan. 19, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – J.R. Reynolds scored 10 of his 16 points in the last 11 minutes when Virginia used a big run to go ahead for good and the Cavaliers held on to beat No. 24 North Carolina 72-68 on Thursday night.
The surprising Cavaliers (9-6, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their second straight in league play, following up a victory at Virginia Tech on Sunday.
North Carolina (10-4, 2-2) lost its second straight. The Tar Heels were stunned 81-70 at home by Miami on Saturday, ending a four-game winning streak.
Sean Singletary led Virginia with 18 points, but had only two down the stretch when Reynolds, freshman Laurynas Mikalauskas and Jason Cain all made big plays.
Mikalauskas twice scored on putbacks and grabbed several key rebounds, and Cain finished with just seven points and five rebounds, but added five blocks, several in the final minutes as the Tar Heels tried to get the ball inside to Tyler Hansbrough.
Hansbrough led North Carolina with 18 points and David Noel had 14 and 10 rebounds.
Singletary had eight points in a 13-2 run that gave Virginia the lead 5 1/2 minutes into the second half. The burst grew to 26-10 over 9 minutes, giving the Cavaliers a 55-46 edge with 8:29 to play, and from then it was a matter of staying in front.
North Carolina closed to within 64-61 on two free throws by Reyshawn Terry with 2:51 left, but Singletary answered with two of his own and Reynolds followed a Tar Heels turnover by adding two foul shots to rebuild the margin to 68-61.
North Carolina opened the second half with a 7-2 run, extending its burst to 22-5 spanning the halves, and seemed ready to take control early in the half.
But Singletary’s three-point play sparked a 13-2 rally for the Cavaliers, giving them a 42-38 lead. North Carolina pulled even twice, the last at 44 with 11:09 left, before Reynolds’ 3-pointer started an 11-2 run that gave Virginia a 55-46 lead.
The Tar Heels led 29-27 at halftime after closing with a 15-3 run and making three of their five first-half 3-pointers in the burst. Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard and Wes Miller all connected for North Carolina. Virginia was 2-for-14 from behind the arc.