Western Kentucky avenges last season's loss to UVa
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
January 3, 2006

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Moments before the tip-off of Monday night's game between Virginia and Western Kentucky, a local television reporter got on the public-address system and reminded everyone in the arena of the Hilltoppers' tough double-overtime loss to the Cavaliers in Charlottesville last season.

"This is Revenge Night," he told the crowd.

What the message lacked in creativity, it more than made up for in veracity.

From the outset, Western Kentucky played like a teenager whose Justin Timberlake CD had just been swiped. They didn't just block UVa shots - they sent them five rows into the stands.

Playing in one of the more hostile environments of the season, Virginia hung tough for as long as they could, but in the end couldn't stop the Hilltoppers' top guns - Courtney Lee and Anthony Winchester.

The duo combined for 44 points to lead Western Kentucky (7-4) to a 78-68 win, snapping the Cavs' three-game winning streak.

"They came out with a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove to us that they were for real," Cav guard J.R. Reynolds said.

Reynolds and Sean Singletary played one of their best collective games of the season - combining for 46 points - but didn't get much help from their teammates, according to Virginia coach Dave Leitao.

"What teams ultimately do is commit more people [to defending Reynolds and Singletary]," Leitao said. "Other guys have to knock down shots to keep [teams] honest."

Lee, who scored 21 points, said the Hilltoppers were motivated by coming so close to the upset last season.

"The main thing we remembered was the one loose ball and getting one more stop," said Lee, referring to the game's final frantic seconds in which T.J. Banister hit a last-second shot.

Said Hilltoppers coach Darrin Horn: "It was a great college basketball game. We knew it would be a tough game. I'm very proud of our team. We withstood every run Virginia threw at us."

After a made-for-ESPN alley oop from Joemal Campbell to Elgrace Wilborn about midway through the second half, the Cavs trailed 51-41. The crowd was rocking, and it wouldn't have been a major surprise to see UVa wilt.

However, the Cavs (6-5) responded quickly. Reynolds, who scored a season-high 26 points on 9 of 15 shooting, including four 3-pointers, got a very friendly bounce from the right wing on a 3-pointer.

Singletary, who finished with 20 points, followed with a 3 of his own. Then, after a defensive stop, he found Lars Mikalauskas to cut the lead to four. On the next possession, Jason Cain scored off an offensive rebound to make it a 53-51 game.

The Cavs stayed within striking distance the rest of the way, but couldn't hit the big shot when they needed to. Two missed free throws by sophomore Adrian Joseph, which could have cut the lead to one with less than three minutes to play, didn't help matters.

"I thought both teams battled hard," Leitao said. "We had to play from behind all game long. When you're climbing uphill like that, you have to make a stand at some point, but we didn't do enough to get us over the hump.

"We have to play a little closer to perfect than we did today."

The Hilltoppers' Wilborn provided the exclamation mark on the win when he threw down a vicious dunk in transition on Singletary in the closing seconds - much to the delight of the 4,981 fans in attendance.

"I think they wanted to rectify what happened last year," said Cavs big man Jason Cain. "They came out and played hard - harder than we did."

DUNKS: Freshman Lars Mikalauskas, a Blue Ridge product, had a career-high nine rebounds. He also had one of his nicest offensive moves of the season when he drove baseline in the second half and scored on a reverse lay-in.

Jason Cain got a round of applause from the Western Kentucky crowd for his good sportsmanship. In the first half, the Hilltoppers' Mike Walker jumped in the air and was about to land on his head - until Cain caught him.

Sean Singletary wore a patch on his jersey with the No. 11 on it in memory of former Western Kentucky basketball player Danny Rumph, who died over the summer from a heart condition. Rumph was from Singletary's hometown of Philadelphia.

Hilltoppers repel Reynolds, Cavs
J.R. Reynolds scores 26 points, but has only two in the final 14:49 as UVa falls to Western Kentucky.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- When J.R. Reynolds scored 12 points in the span of four early second-half possessions, it was reasonable to believe that Virginia might ride its junior shooting guard to a come-from-behind victory.

Maybe Western Kentucky got that idea, too, because the Hilltoppers limited Reynolds to two shots over the final 1412 minutes in a 78-68 victory at Diddle Arena.

After falling behind by 13 points in the first half and 12 in the second half, the Cavaliers (6-5) cut the margin to two at 53-51, 55-53 and 62-60.

It was 67-64 when Adrian Joseph went to the free-throw line with 2:47, but Joseph, an 81.3 percent free-throw shooter missed both ends of a two-shot opportunity.

The Hilltoppers (8-4) got the rebound, called timeout and then senior Anthony Winchester hit a 3-point play over Joseph to make it 70-64.

"At that late stage, it was important to make it a two-possession game," Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn said.

Virginia (6-5) got as close as 72-68 on a pair of free throws by Sean Singletary with 36.6 seconds remaining, but Western Kentucky senior Anthony Winchester responded with four straight free throws.

Until that point, the Hilltoppers had not made a free throw all night and did not have a free-throw attempt until the final two minutes, as the fans made sure to inform the referees.

The Cavaliers had a point taken off the board when Tunji Soroye committed a lane violation after Reynolds seemingly had converted a three-point play in the first half.

Reynolds had four 3-point field goals and two three-point plays, not counting the lane violation.

He finished with a season-high 26 points, only two coming in the final 14:49.

"What people ultimately start doing is they start committing more people to them," said UVa coach Dave Leitao, referring to Reynolds and Singletary.

Leitao had said Saturday after a 71-62 victory over Hartford that he was waiting for the day when Reynolds and Singletary were on their game at the same time.

With Singletary scoring 20 against the Hilltoppers, he got his wish Monday night but they had little support.

Joseph and freshman forward Mamadi Diane, both averaging double-figure points entering Monday night's play, were a combined 2-for-13 from the floor.

The Cavaliers needed a second-half rally to shoot 42.4 percent from the floor after going 11-of-33 (33.3 percent) in the first half.

Western Kentucky shot 55.2 percent from the field and received 14 of its last 18 points from Winchester, a senior who had incurred Horn's wrath with a lackluster performance Thursday in a 87-71 victory over Division II Kentucky State.

The Hilltoppers got 23 points from Winchester and 21 from Courtney Lee, disappointed stars last year when Virginia beat Western Kentucky 80-79 in double overtime in Charlottesville.

"It all came down to one loose ball," Lee said. "What we all remember is that we only needed one more stop."

Virginia could have used a couple of stops Monday night.

Cavs fall to Hilltoppers
Leitao laments mental mistakes; Reynolds scores 26 in defeat
From Staff Reports
Jan 3, 2006
WKU 78 U.VA. 68

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Late-game heroics saved the Virginia men's basketball team against Western Kentucky last season. The rematch followed a different script.
Click Here!

Western, which lost in double overtime at University Hall last January, took the lead for good with 16:50 remaining in the first half at E.A. Diddle Arena last night. The Hilltoppers fought off several second-half rallies by Virginia and won 78-68.

WKU (8-4) outscored U.Va. 8-2 in the final 1:45.

"You hope that you play well enough where it comes down to having to make plays the last two or three minutes of the game, and we battled hard enough to make that a possibility," said U.Va.'s first-year coach, Dave Leitao, who had only seven scholarship players available, none of whom is a senior.

"But throughout the game I thought we made [too many] mental errors, and I keep saying this over and over: We don't have the luxury of making errors like other people do."

Junior guard J.R. Reynolds led Virginia (6-5) with a season-high 26 points, and sophomore point guard Sean Singletary added 20. Frontcourt starters Jason Cain (10 points) and Laurynas Mikalauskas (eight points, career-high nine boards) also played well for the Cavaliers, but Reynolds and Singletary got little help on the perimeter.

Swingmen Adrian Joseph and Mamadi Diane (1 for 7 from the floor) scored two points apiece. In his previous game, Joseph had scored 15 in a win over Hartford.

U.Va., down 44-32 barely two minutes into the second half, thrice cut its deficit to two points, the last time with 6:10 remaining. Then, with 2:47 left and Virginia trailing 67-64, Joseph went to the line for two shots.

The 6-7 sophomore missed both, and Western guard Anthony Winchester buried a 3-pointer to make it 70-65.

"We missed some free throws at the end," Leitao said on the U.Va. radio network. "We gave up a couple open shots that we hadn't given up the 8 or 10 minutes before that, and obviously it cost us. And when you're on the road, you really have to make sure you take care of that side of it."

Winchester, who had 30 points and 11 rebounds at U-Hall last season, tormented the Cavs again. The 6-4 senior scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the second half. Courtney Lee, a 6-5 sophomore, added 21 points. Lee had 20 points and eight rebounds in WKU's 80-79 loss in Charlottesville last year.

The Hilltoppers, who made eight of their first nine shots from the floor last night, appeared poised to blow the game open before halftime, but the Cavs closed with four straight points to pull to 37-30 at the break.

Virginia plays its first ACC home game Saturday afternoon against Clemson at U-Hall. U.Va. lost its conference opener at Georgia Tech last month.

Vick gets a win, but deserves discipline for cheap shot
BY DAVID TEEL
Newport News Daily Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Kevin Rogers took a stand. Question is, will someone in authority at Virginia Tech follow suit?

Rogers, the Hokies' quarterbacks coach, refused to bask in Monday's 35-24 victory over Louisville in the Gator Bowl. Instead, he tackled the afternoon's indelible moment: The inexcusable cheap shot Tech quarterback Marcus Vick took on a prone Louisville defender, All-America end Elvis Dumervil.

"Flagrant" and worthy of ejection, according to Rogers. "Embarrassing" to Vick and the program, he added.

Rogers couldn't be more right.

Head coach Frank Beamer wouldn't go that far. He rarely does. But Beamer, or if necessary his superiors, need to discipline Vick.

Harshly.

Publicly.

ASAP.

Yes, the season is over. But the images of Vick standing over the fallen Dumervil and driving his right cleat into the back of Dumervil's left knee late in the second quarter will not soon fade and should not go unpunished.

Wind sprints `til he pukes? Banishment from spring practice or the team training table?

Sorry, not good enough. At the very least, Tech ought to suspend Vick for the 2006 season-opener.

Cue the Vick apologists: The media picks on him because of his last name; football is a violent game; he was reacting to previous plays.

Pure, unadulterated nonsense. The younger brother of Pro Bowl quarterback and former Tech All-American Michael Vick is not a first-time offender who deserves a pass. He is a fine football player see the tape of Monday's second half for the latest evidence who has been a problem child since he departed Warwick High in Newport News, Va., for Blacksburg.

Liquor, marijuana, under-aged girls, flipping off fans at West Virginia.

"A no-character individual," Dumervil said as he left the stadium.

Too harsh, but can you blame the guy? He's the national defensive player of the year who's headed to the NFL after this, his final college game. Vick's stunt could have wrecked Dumervil's knee and cost him millions.

Odds are you've seen the play: Late in the second quarter, Dumervil tackles Vick cleanly after a 9-yard scramble. Vick pops up, pauses, and, with Dumervil flat on his stomach, stomps the back of his knee.

Inexplicably, the Big 12 officiating crew missed it. No flag. But Rogers saw it.

"I sure as hell did," he said. "There's no place for that in the game. It's embarrassing, and I think it misrepresents who he really is."

Maybe Rogers is right. Maybe Vick is good-hearted and reflective. But Vick is also maddeningly inconsistent. Indeed, after the game he was contrite, defiant and apparently dishonest.

"Sometimes out there on the field some things happen and, unfortunately, sometimes I don't know how to carry myself," the contrite Vick said. "That's all about coming back (for his senior season) being polished and becoming a better person."

The defiant Vick said, "It was an accidental play. Football is football."

And the apparently dishonest Vick said Dumervil "definitely" accepted his apology.

But Dumervil and Louisville officials said the players never spoke after the game. Tech officials then said Vick waited outside the Cardinals' locker room to no avail.

Regardless, Vick's contention that Dumervil accepted his apology speaks to a troubling notion: Vick still doesn't get it. He still believes he's above the rules.

Someone needs to cure him of that notion. Now.

"I hate like hell to be talking about this after we won the game," Rogers said.

Understood. Tech overcame an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit with three late touchdowns. The 12th-ranked Hokies became the third team in program history to win 11 games (11-2) and made a compelling case for inclusion in the final top 10.

Individually, seniors such as tight end Jeff King, tailback Cedric Humes, center Will Montgomery, linebacker James Anderson and defensive end Darryl Tapp concluded sterling Tech careers with gold-plated performances. Offensive tackle Brandon Frye was outstanding in relief of injured Jimmy Martin; ditto cornerback Brandon Flowers after Jimmy Williams' first-quarter ejection for bumping an official (a sad conclusion to his All-American career).

And Marcus Vick completed six of eight second-half passes, many in the how'd-he-do-that? category, for 110 yards and a touchdown. Alas, the other side of Marcus emerged.

"It hurts him, it hurts our program," Rogers said.

Does it taint a benchmark victory?

"For me," Rogers said, "it does."

Vick's antics cheapen win
Aaron
McFarling
The Roanoke Times

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- He'll get away with it. He always does. The coaching staff will review the tape and determine that it was just some "unfortunate incident," and that will be that.

Marcus Vick will survive again with a slap on the Nike wristband. The message will remain clear.

Just rescue us with that right arm, big guy. Don't listen to the haters who only want to bring you down. Just win, baby. Then it's all OK.

The Virginia Tech Hokies did win the Gator Bowl here Monday. Won it with a great fourth-quarter comeback that Vick was a big part of engineering. It should have been a fantastic feel-good tale.

It was perfect swan song for game MVP Cedric Humes, who ran for a late score. It was another tribute to the steady play of tight end Jeff King, who caught the go-ahead TD pass and now is off to show his stuff on Sundays. It was another testament to Bud Foster's defense, which recovered from a rough first half to become vicious again.

But what the Hokies won was tempered by what they lost.

They lost some respect.

They lost it late in the second quarter, when Vick looked down at his fallen opponent, raised his cleated foot and stomped on the knee of Louisville's Elvis Dumervil. If you didn't see it, you will soon. Check the highlight shows. Unfortunately for Tech, this is the highlight many will be talking about.

Here's the irony: During the game Monday, at the exact moment you at home were waiting for the first replay of this incident, NBC sent its cameras into the stands, where Michael Vick was granting an interview about his younger brother's steady progression.

Michael said the usual stuff. Then finally, the network came back to the play, and as they showed it over and over again, it became more clear that this was a pretty egregious act.

And that's the thing about Marcus Vick. We want to believe what we hear. We want to believe all the interviews that tell us about maturation and leadership and learning from mistakes.

But it contradicts what we see with our eyes. And the only person who can control that is Vick.

If he doesn't care what his image is, you shouldn't waste your breath trying to defend it.

Both Vick and coach Frank Beamer said the quarterback apologized to Dumervil after the game. Strange, because Dumervil later said he hadn't heard a word from Vick other than competitive jawing on the field.

"It showed he was a no-character individual," said Dumervil, the winner of the Bronko Nagurski trophy for the nation's best defensive player. "I definitely thought it was intentional. He stomped on my knee. My left knee is still hurting."

Louisville coach Bobby Petrino bit his tongue and called the incident "unfortunate." There's that word again.

The only person who stood up and said exactly what needed to be said was Tech quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers.

He was so furious with Vick that he considered recommending to Beamer that the quarterback be benched.

He decided against it, he said, because he didn't want to hurt the other 21 players on the field.

"There's no place for it in the game," Rogers said, echoing comments he said he told Vick as the quarterback came off the field. "It hurts him. It hurts our program, and it's frankly just embarrassing."

Thank the good Lord for Rogers, a stand-up guy who's not afraid to speak the truth, even if the truth is critical of one of the game's top performers. And his words mean more than anybody's. He's been Vick's most ardent supporter, his tutor, his confidant.

When he tells people Vick has turned a corner, it'd be nice if Vick didn't double back.

Rogers said he thinks Vick got the message this time. We can only hope.

But chances are, the message Vick got was the one he always gets, the one that was expressed as he headed to the tunnel after the game.

A large group of lingering Tech fans cheered him loudly. Little kids reached over the railing and tried to touch him. A middle-aged man yelled "Way to go, Marcus!"

Yes, whoop it up, everyone.

It's a win.

Stepping into dirty play, Vick soiled Hokies' win
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Tuesday, January 3, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Just what Virginia Tech football needs -- another Marcus Vick moment.

Not the TD pass that vaulted the Hokies toward their 35-24 Gator Bowl conquest of Louisville.

The foot stomp to a rival player who was lying face down on the ground.

The sheer embarrassment.

The sour aftertaste.

This is what you leave yourself open to when you give talent not just the benefit of the doubt but the key to the vault. Marcus Vick should've been quarterbacka non grata in Blacksburg two years ago for transgressions that are part of the public record. That he's remained to make all-ACC and further mischief is testament to his skill and one athletic program's go-for-the-gold appetite.

Vick threw for 203 yards and a couple of touchdowns yesterday and sparked Tech to this comeback triumph. He was aces when it mattered most. But he also added another ratty entry to his frayed reputation. Flipping off the fans in Morgantown pales by comparison.

This incident began innocently enough. With about two minutes left in the first half, Vick scrambled for 9 yards before being taken down by Louisville All-America defensive end Elvis Dumervil.

Whistles blew. The teams separated and began to congregate. The refs turned their attention to other matters.

Whereupon Vick stood, looked down as if to momentarily size up possibilities and planted his right shoe to the back of Dumervil's left calf.

Several Louisville coaches -- livid, fingers pointing -- rushed forward onto the playing surface. Dumervil remained prone on the turf, prompting an injury timeout and his removal for a play.

On Tech's sideline, Kevin Rogers watched with more than a hint of chagrin. He's the Ho kies' quarterbacks coach. He's worked with Vick, nurtured Vick, counseled Vick, commended Vick.

Yesterday, leaning against a wall outside Tech's dressing room, he rebuked Vick.

"Let me put it this way -- he knows there's no room for that in the game," Rogers said. "It's embarrassing. I think it misrepresents who he really is. Very frankly, I was very disappointed. It hurts our program. It hurts him. It was a stupid, knee-jerk reaction."

Rogers ["Obviously, to me it was a flagrant foul"] said he thought Vick would've been flagged or ejected had officials seen the dirty deed. He said he considered yanking Vick from the lineup ("Oh, yeah, it crossed my mind"). He was asked if the act took something away from the win.

His response: "For me, it does."

This is how an 11-2 campaign should end? With grime and regrets and TV replays spotlighting a player for crossing a line other than the one that guards the end zone? That's what Vick affected -- although his buddies maybe helped set the tone for such transgressions by being whistled for six major penalties (one of five personal fouls was offset by a Louisville penalty) in the first half alone.

One flag resulted in the ejection of cornerback Jimmy Williams, who later allowed that "the refs -- they ain't never been on our side." Vick marched in lockstep with that equivocating posture by calling his action "an accidental play." He also said he apologized to Dumervil after the game and that "everything's good."

Problem is, detente never happened. Dumervil, still apparently steamed, declined to emerge from his locker room to meet Vick and dismissed any contention foot-to-leg contact was inadvertent.

"I definitely thought it was intentional," Dumervil told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "My left knee is still hurting. He's just a no-character individual. It could've been my career."

Marcus Vick's tenure has one more season to go in Blacksburg. He'll zing more passes, scoot for more yardage, deliver more touchdowns, win more games. If Tech is very, very, very lucky, he won't create more incidents like yesterday.

"You hate to see kids watching on TV at home see something like that," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said.

Kevin Rogers -- 54 years old, not seeking a role model, just wishing for grownup tendencies -- can relate as well. Sad.

Contact staff writer Bob Lipper at blipper@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6555