No. 25 Virginia Edges N. C. State, 67- 62

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Dec. 3, 2006

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -Sean Singletary hit a tiebreaking 16-foot jumper with 1:03 left and No. 25 Virginia beat North Carolina State 67-62 Sunday to win its conference opener for the first time in 12 seasons.

J.R. Reynolds and Will Harris scored 14 apiece for Virginia (5-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), and Reynolds got all but two of his points in the last 7:13 after missing his first six shots. Singletary, whose big basket was just his fourth in 12 shots, added 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Wolfpack (5-1, 0-1) lost for the first time under new coach Sidney Lowe. They got 17 points from Brandon Costner and 15 from Gavin Grant, but Costner missed a 3-pointer with about 6 seconds left and Singletary hit two free throws to seal it.

The teams swapped the lead back and forth 14 times in the second half, until Reynolds scored six points in an 8-2 run to give the Cavaliers a 56-53 lead with 4:18 left. After Grant made two free throws for N.C. State, Mamadi Diane scored inside for the Cavaliers for his first field goal since the opening minutes.

The Wolfpack rallied back to even it at 59 on Courtney’s Fells’ second straight turnaround 15-footer with 2:43 left, and again at 62 after Ben McCauley made a layup and then one of two free throws with 1:25 to play, but they didn’t score again.

Singletary’s clutch jumper put Virginia ahead 64-62.

McCauley added 12 points and Fells 11 for the Wolfpack, which was without its lone senior, Engin Atsur, because of a hamstring injury and relied almost entirely on its starting five. Grant played 40 minutes, McCauley, Costner and Fells 38 each.

Virginia led 27-26 after a first half in which the team were never more than five points apart and both shot poorly. The Wolfpack was at 36 percent and missed 12 of its 14 3-point attempts; the Cavaliers were at 31 percent and made three of 13 3s.