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Cavaliers Score 75-72 Win at No. 17 Arizona
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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) –Sean Singletary scored 24 points to lead Virginia to a 75-72 victory over No. 17 Arizona on Saturday night.
Singletary, a three-year captain, made two free throws with 1:22 remaining to break a 69-69 tie, then hit a 15-foot jumper to put the Cavaliers up 73-69 with 39 seconds to go.
Virginia (3-0) knocked off a ranked opponent on the road for the second straight season. The Cavaliers lost to Arizona 81-51 on the same floor two years ago in coach Dave Leitao’s third game.
Jeff Jones hit five 3-pointers to score 15 points for the Cavaliers, who were 12-for-21 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Jerryd Bayless led Arizona with 21 points in his second college game.
Virginia led 73-69 when Bayless hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left. After a timeout, Virginia’s Mamadi Diane failed to inbound the ball in five seconds, turning the ball over to Arizona.
But Bayless turned the ball over on the next possession, and senior Adrian Joseph hit a pair of free throws to put the Cavaliers up 75-72. Arizona (1-1) had the ball with 20 seconds to go but failed to attempt a 3-pointer that could have tied the game.
It was Arizona’s second game under interim coach Kevin O’Neill, who replaced Lute Olson when the Hall of Famer went on a personal leave of absence.
Trailing 46-36 early in the second half, Arizona went on a 16-2 run, fueled by two dunks by Budinger. The second finished a fast break that began when Jawann McClellan stole the ball, and it gave the Wildcats a 49-48 lead, their first since midway through the first half.
Arizona was coming off a shaky 76-69 victory over Northern Arizona, and the Wildcats had trouble adjusting to a tougher opponent.
Early on, the Wildcats left Virginia’s snipers alone behind the arc, and the Cavaliers responded with a flurry of 3-pointers. Virginia jumped out to a 15-6 lead after six minutes, and all the points came on 3-pointers.
Jones hit four 3-pointers in the first 8 minutes. The freshman had missed the two 3-pointers he attempted in his first two college games.
Virginia shot 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half.
The Wildcats had more turnovers (13) than buckets (11) at intermission.
Arizona went on a 15-6 run to take a 19-18 lead midway through the first half. But Virginia outscored Arizona 24-12 the rest of the way to take a 42-31 lead into the half. Arizona didn’t score in the final 3:20 of the half.