Nothing earned outright
UVa comes up short versus Wake Forest
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 4, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Just a few minutes into Saturday's Virginia-Wake Forest regular-season finale, after one particularly ugly defensive sequence, UVa coach Dave Leitao substituted for Tunji Soroye.
"You're [expletive] sleeping! You should have stayed at home!" Leitao shouted at his starting big man as he walked off the court.

He may as well have been talking to his entire team.

With a chance to win its first outright ACC regular-season championship since 1981, Virginia picked the worst possible time to lay an egg.

A big, fat one.

Fresh off its most inspiring effort of the season on Thursday - a win over Virginia Tech - UVa was the exact opposite against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers played down to their competition, losing to the last-place Demon Deacons, 78-72, in front of 13,611 fans at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

"We definitely didn't do anything right today," said Virginia point guard Sean Singletary, who was the game's high scorer with 25 points on 7 of 19 shooting. "It was lack of energy from the beginning and no resiliency, not much heart. They wanted it more than us.

"They knew we were chasing a championship and wanted to spoil it for us. We didn't have enough fight to defend."

Leitao, whose team would have matched its highest conference-victory total since 1995 with a win, said the loss wasn't any more frustrating because of what was at stake.

"I'm a competitor and any loss hurts, so I don't look at it that way," he said. "Nothing other than today and winning this basketball game meant anything to me, and it shouldn't for our team if in fact we approached [the game] the right way.

"In the grand scheme of things, you give away an opportunity, but whenever you don't play well enough to win, it becomes very, very disappointing."

Virginia (20-9, 11-5 ACC) still has a chance - albeit a remote one - to win the ACC. It needs North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Boston College to lose their games today.

Conversely, if all three schools were to win, Virginia would be the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament that starts Thursday in Tampa, Fla. (The top four seeds all have first-round byes and don't begin play until Friday).

Against Wake Forest, Virginia just never got into any kind of groove. It was a minor miracle that the Cavaliers still had a chance to tie the game with 20 seconds remaining.

Trailing 74-72, Singletary snuck in the lane and grabbed Jason Cain's missed free throw, but his putback attempt bounced off the front of the rim.

"I got pushed a little bit," Singletary said, "but you're not going to get foul calls at a time like that, with so much at stake. I just missed the shot."

Wake Forest (14-15, 5-11) took a four-point lead on two free throws by Jamie Skeen with 17 seconds. Then Singletary missed a driving layup on the other end that turned out to be Virginia's last gasp.

UVa senior J.R. Reynolds was a non-factor. Reynolds concluded his college regular-season career with a 3-of-14 effort.

"It was just a bad game," said Reynolds, who is 6 of 29 in his last two games. "They were trying to play physical and denying.

"[The game] was right there in our hands. All we had to do was go out there and play to our potential, and we didn't do that."

Added Singletary: "It's extremely frustrating when you have a goal in mind, but the chemistry is just not there and no heart is being shown."

In the first half, Wake Forest's Michael Drum drilled a wide-open 3-pointer for the first basket of the game. On the Demon Deacons' next possession, L.D. Williams easily drove around Jason Cain for a nasty windmill dunk.

As poorly as Virginia started, Wake Forest didn't play much better. The first 15 minutes of the game were tedious to watch as the team's combined for 24 fouls.

Wake Forest was 14 of 19 from the free-throw line.

Virginia seemed to snap out of its funk, ever so slightly, in the last 5 minutes of the half. Singletary and Will Harris heated up. The duo scored the team's last 15 points for a 39-35 lead at the break.

However, Virginia started the second half the same way it did the first - very poorly.

The Cavaliers missed their first three shots and committed two turnovers on their first five possessions.

Meanwhile, Williams drilled a 3-pointer and point guard Ishmael Smith sliced through the entire Virginia defense for an easy layup to put Wake Forest up 40-39.

The Demon Deacons, playing on Senior Day, could smell blood from there.

"I'm really proud of our kids," said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser. "Virginia is a really good team. I thought our defensive effort to keep them at 36-percent [shooting] was the best we had all year."

Prosser admitted that his team enjoyed the chance to play spoiler.

"We did talk about not wanting them to do that on our own home floor - not allowing them to celebrate an ACC Championship here."

Harris, who had nine points and four rebounds, summed things up well.

"I think we just didn't come out with the fight that we needed to win." he said. "We wanted to win the championship. We didn't want to share [it]. We wanted to do something that no Virginia team had done in a long time, but we didn't snatch that opportunity."

Dunks

Wake Forest now leads the all-time series with Virginia, 64-59. ... The Demon Deacons have won 13 of the last 16 meetings in Winston-Salem. ... Virginia was outrebounded, 47-44.

 

Cavaliers let rare opportunity slip through
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
March 4, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser had a long laundry list of issues he needed to cover in the scouting report to his basketball team before Saturday's regular-season finale against first-place Virginia.
* Contain the Cavaliers' gifted backcourt of Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds. Easier said than done.

* Always keep an eye on Reynolds' position on the floor. He got 40 on the Deacons last time out.

* Avoid getting killed by UVa's 3-point shooters. The Cavs outscored Virginia Tech, 30-6, in that department on Thursday night.

Certainly if Wake didn't attend to those matters, it would have made Virginia's quest to capture the ACC regular-season championship that much easier.

And, oh yeah. One other thing.

Prosser didn't want Virginia celebrating the championship on Wake's floor, something he talked about at length.

Less than two minutes into the game, it was clear that the Deacons, tied for last in the league going into the contest, had taken their coach's message to heart. It was also clear that the Cavaliers' hadn't listened quite as closely, quickly falling behind 5-0.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao was livid during the timeout, scolding big man Tunji Soroye for allowing Wake center Kyle Visser to have his way down on the block.

While the Cavaliers fought back into contention, it was evident that the Deacs had set the tone and weren't about to go away. Leitao threw everything he had at Visser, not the most talented big man in the league, but a strong space-eater who, left unchecked, could cause havoc in the middle.

Soroye, Jason Cain, Ryan Pettinella, and even Lars Mikalauskas, who hadn't gotten off the bench in the previous two games, all took shots at trying to shut down Visser inside, but to no avail.

The 6-foot-11, 255-pound Deac pulled down 10 rebounds and was fouled repeatedly, scoring nine of his team-high 17 points at the free-throw line to help Wake upset Virginia, 78-72.

It was a dark day in Wahoo history as the Cavs let a rare opportunity to win the ACC regular-season title outright slip through their mitts. Only one other team had accomplished the feat and that was a quarter century ago.

Now, Virginia, 20-9, 11-5, can only keep its collective fingers crossed that three other ACC teams pull off a similar choke job this afternoon when Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College all get their shots at the title.

Leitao probably had better odds of buying a winning lottery ticket on his way home Saturday night.

Yeah, the Cavaliers still get a piece of the pie. But they didn't want a timeshare on the title, which could end up a two-, three-, or four-way tie.

What's up for grabs is the top seed in this week's ACC Tournament in Tampa, Fla.

What's gone and likely lost forever was the Cavaliers' chance to have it all by their lonesome.

"It was right there in our hands," said J.R. Reynolds, who picked a bad time to go through his worst shooting slump of the season. The senior guard was 3 for 14 against the Deacs, with six turnovers, and is a meager 6 for 29 in his last two outings. "I don't think we had the urgency."

Virginia wasn't completely steamrolled. It led at the half, were knotted at 62-all with five minutes to go, and trailed 74-71 after 39 minutes.

But they still play 40 and this time, Virginia didn't finish.

Leitao could have offered up a lot of excuses, but his team, not particularly good on the road, just didn't take care of business.

Had the Cavaliers knocked off either of the two last-place teams they faced in the final 11 days of the season (Miami and Wake), they would be sitting in the catbird's seat this morning, watching everyone else slug it out for second.

That, the critics point out, is enough evidence to question the legitimacy of Virginia as league champ in the first place. Are the Cavaliers really that good? After all, should BC, UNC and Tech all win today, the Wahoos will be the ACC Tournament's fourth seed because they would lose all the tie-breaker scenarios.

They lost to the Tar Heels and Eagles in road contests, with no chance to return the favor in the expanded ACC. They split with the Hokies, who swept the Tar Heels and split with BC. (By the way, if Tech beats Clemson at home today, it wins the top seed by virtue of those tie-breakers).

But that's the least of Leitao's worries right now. He understood when he called that early timeout that his team was in trouble and he knew exactly why.

"I don't think we're a hard team to figure out," the UVa coach said. "Look at the 3-pointers from Adrian [Joseph], J.R., and [Mamadi Diane] ... that's not them. Jason didn't play well. None of our big guys played well today. When we don't play the way we're capable of, a lot of teams can beat us."

Virginia was 5 for 20 from Bonusphere after going 10 for 16 against the Hokies. Reynolds struggled mightily. Sean Singletary held up his end of the bargain with 25 points and seven rebounds, but didn't have much help.

"This is not the way we wanted to end it," said Singletary, slumped over at his locker, head down, an ice bag wrapped around his bruised left leg. "This is a low point in our season, but it's also a high point because we're in first place no matter what. It just sucks that we have to share it."

While Prosser managed to mark off each item from his pregame checklist, Leitao drowned in the misery of a mission not accomplished. To his credit, he didn't make excuses such as the short turnaround and playing two games within a 42-hour span.

"That would be more of an excuse than reality," the Virginia coach said. "We've got good shooters and all year long we've made our fair share of shots. Today, we were a bad-shooting team. Yes, it's a tough turnaround with two games of this magnitude, this late in the year, this much on the line.

"If you really want to call yourself a champion, you have to overcome anything and everything in your way," Leitao said. "Somewhere along the line next weekend, somebody's going to be crowned champion and they're going to have to face adversity. There's no excuses now, you've just got to play."

Perhaps in the ashes of Saturday's failure, the Cavaliers learned a valuable lesson that can help them in the postseason.

"From here, we're only promised two games, so we've got to play every game like it's our last," said Reynolds.

From here on, it's all about heart.

 

Virginia keeps it low scoring, tops Syracuse
By Sean McLernon / smclernon@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
March 4, 2007

BALTIMORE - Danny Glading's summersault wasn't supposed to be celebratory.
Falling away from the goal after firing a shot into the back of the net in the third quarter, the UVa sophomore lost his balance and, after hitting the ground, executed the backward tuck roll to maintain his balance.

But if Glading would have known his score gave the Cavaliers more than enough offensive output to beat Syracuse, he probably would have thrown in a few cartwheels and backflips as well.

After allowing seven Syracuse goals in the game's first 19 minutes, the UVa defense limited the Orange to only one over the final 41 to help the Cavaliers secure an 11-8 win in front of an NCAA regular-season record 20,180 in the inaugural Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium.

Ben Rubeor led Virginia with three goals and two assists. His final tally came midway through the third quarter to tie the game, 8-8. The score opened a 4-0 Virginia run to end the game, with goals from Foster Gilbert, Glading and Drew Thompson providing insurance as the Orange were held scoreless over the final 20 minutes, 25 seconds.

The 19 combined goals is the lowest offensive output in the 22-game series between the two schools since a 13-4 Syracuse victory in 1938.

"I thought we were headed to 22-21 again there for a minute and I was not happy about it, frankly." said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, referring to a 1997 shootout between the teams won by Syracuse. "I thought we had a good scheme defensively that we didn't implement at all in the first quarter. We had guys flying all over the field. We settled down midway through the second quarter and [goalkeeper] Kip Turner stepped up and made a couple stops for us"

Turner finished with 12 saves, stopping 66 percent of the shots that came his way. Starsia also credited long stick midfielder Mike Tims, midfielder Will Barrow and defenseman Tim Shaw for their defensive effort.

"For this team, we have to play good defense to be successful," Starsia said. "Kip and the defense have to keep this team grounded while a young offense gets their feet on the ground. Like we had in Stony Brook last week, the defense settled in and started to play better."

In a 20-15 UVa win last season, Turner struggled against the Orange early and was pulled in favor of backup Bud Petit after saving only two of the 10 shots that came his way. It looked to be more of the same this season when the Orange scored on all six shots on goal in the first quarter. The senior netminder recovered early enough though, stopping all but two of the next 14 shots that came his way.

"I was a little nervous after the first quarter," Turner said. "Obviously, I was a little shaken. At halftime you have to gather yourself, as a goalie especially, and move on from it."

Greg Rommell and Greg Nieweroski scored a team-high two goals apiece for the Syracuse, which has now dropped four straight and five of the last six against the Cavaliers. The Orange outshot the Cavaliers, 37-28, but could not capitalize on the advantage.

"We just got to shoot better," Rommel said. "Last week [in an 8-6 defeat to] Army it was a lack of execution. The offense wasn't clicking and we weren't running through stuff. This week [against Virginia] we did a better job running the offense, but we were just hitting the goalie."

Garrett Billings and Thompson finished with two goals for the Cavaliers. Brian Carroll and Steve Giannone also found the back of the net for UVa. Billings and Glading each had an assist as well.

The Cavaliers jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring on their first three possessions, but the Orange went on a 7-2 run to grab a two-goal lead with 11:13 left in the second quarter. Virginia kept them off the board for the rest of the half and got a pair of goals from Rubeor and Thompson to go into the break tied, 7-7.

Virginia takes on Virginia Military Institute on Monday at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers beat the Keydets, 21-4, last season.

It will be Virginia's first game in Charlottesville since losing to Drexel in the season opener. Starsia has liked what he's seen from his team since that Feb. 18 defeat.

"Since the Drexel game, we've made some decisions about some personnel and we've had two good weeks of practice," Starsia said. "I feel us getting better. We've got a long way to go, but we have a chance. If we can build on this, then we have the chance to be a pretty good lacrosse team."
 

Wingfield slams, Cavs keep rolling
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 4, 2007

Patrick Wingfield had a few extra seconds to collect his thoughts.
Thanks to a visit to the mound by a Delaware coach prior to his at-bat, the Virginia junior stood in the on-deck circle thinking about the possibilities.

None of those included what actually happened.

Wingfield drilled the first pitch offered by Blue Hen starter Matt Heppner over the left-field wall for a towering, third-inning grand slam that catapulted No. 7 Virginia to a 10-4 victory at Davenport Field.

With the win, UVa (13-1) pushed its winning streak to 11 games and moved within a victory today of securing a perfect 12-game homestand. Delaware dropped to 0-5.

Wingfield, who had failed to homer in the first 157 plate appearances of his three-year career, said the two-out blast came on the pitch he expected: a fastball down the middle.

"I was looking for [Heppner] to throw a strike because he was having trouble that inning," said the Winchester native. "I put a good swing on it and got it up in the wind."

Following the game, Wingfield was subject of playful ribbing since the homer would not have cleared left field before it was brought in two years ago, something that was done this season in right field.

Wingfield took it in stride.

"Are you saying that wasn't far enough?" he replied.

Regardless, it proved to be ample run support for Virginia right-hander Jacob Thompson, who went six innings and improved to 4-0.

Thompson, who scattered seven hits and fanned eight, found himself in a position that no other Cavalier pitcher had been in at home this season - he pitched from behind.

Delaware took a 1-0 lead in the second after registering back-to-back hits, including a leadoff triple by first baseman Ryan Cuneo.

As Thompson had done previously this season, he worked out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play.

"It's good and bad. I don't like being in situations like that, but for the future it will help," Thompson said. "I think working out of those situations shows what someone is made of and from here on out, every weekend in the ACC is going to be like that.

"You are going to have to pitch out of tough jams from here on out."

Virginia took its first lead in the bottom of the second with a three-run inning highlighted by a two-out, two-run single through the right side of the infield by Tim Henry.

After Wingfield's roundtripper in the third, the Cavaliers added three insurance runs in the fourth inning, pushing their lead to 10-1 on RBI from David Adams, Brandon Guyer and Beau Seabury.

Delaware, which led the nation last year in home runs per game (2.06), doubles per game (2.63) and slugging percentage (.574), scored two runs in the seventh and one in the ninth as Virginia coach Brian O'Connor used three relievers.

It marked the first time that Virginia's bullpen had allowed a run since the final game against George Washington on Feb. 19, a stretch that reached 26 consecutive scoreless innings.

"We are strong and we have depth in the bullpen, right-handed and left-handed," O'Connor said. "We don't have to depend on one or two guys. Last year, any time that we had a lead, I felt like we went to [Michael] Schwimer and [Casey] Lambert."

While new heroes emerged offensively - freshman Tyler Cannon had six RBI in the series opener on Friday - Virginia finished with 11 hits, registering its 12th double-digit hit total of the season.

"Wingfield had a big day for us today, Cannon had a big day [on Friday] and it has been different guys that have stepped up and had big RBI days for us," O'Connor said. "And that is what you need."

Extra bases

Wingfield, who typically plays third, started at first base for the second straight day in place of Jeremy Farrell (strained forearm). Farrell is listed day-to-day. ... UVa freshman LHP Matt Packer (2-0, 2.20 ERA) is scheduled to today. The Blue Hens plan to counter with LHP Brent Gaphardt (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

INSIDE THE GAME
Virginia 10, Delaware 4

At Davenport Field (Charlottesville)

Saturday, March 3

UVa at the plate: Patrick Wingfield had the biggest game of the hit ? he delivered a grand slam in the third inning ? but coach Brian O'Connor elected to rave about the five-pitch, two-out walk that David Adams took to start the inning. Adams reached base four times (2 singles, 2 walks) in five plate appearances and scored a pair of runs. Wingfield finished 3 for 5 with two runs and drive in five.

Delaware at the plate: Four Blue Hens ? Brandon Menchaca, Alex Buchholz, Ryan Cuneo and Scott Shockley ? had two-hit performances. Menchaca was the star, slapping out a pair of triples and scoring two of the team's four runs.

UVa on the mound: Jacob Thompson flirted with danger but the box score barely proves it. The sophomore, who went six innings, threw 63 of his 97 pitches for strikes and only one of the 10 baserunners he allowed crossed the plate. While Neal Davis (1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 SO) and Jeff Lorick (1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 SO) struggled in relief, Alex Smith turned in his best outing of the season, fanning two of the three batters he faced.

Delaware on the mound: While failing to record a strikeout, the bullpen allowed only one Virginia run over five innings. The trio, which included Kevin Brown (3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB), Steve Spiese (1 IP, 1 H) and David Slovak (1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB), faced 21 batters.

Records: Virginia 13-1; Delaware 0-5.


 

Cavs blow shot to win top spot
Tied for last place in ACC entering game, Wake upends U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 4, 2007
WAKE 78 U.VA. 72

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. One team had pride -- and its departing seniors -- to play for yesterday. That team, Wake Forest, turned in an effort worthy of a champion.

Its opponent, with a title on the line, turned in one of its worst performances of the season.

With a victory over Wake, Virginia would have captured the ACC's regular-season championship and clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Instead, the Cavaliers lost 78-72 to the Demon Deacons, who started the day tied for last place in the ACC.

After U.Va. pulled to 62-62 on two free throws by junior guard Sean Singletary with 5:05 left, Wake took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by reserve guard Harvey Hale. And when it was over, many of the students in the crowd of 13,611 rushed onto the court to celebrate.

"It was right there in our hands," senior guard J.R. Reynolds said in the quiet visitors' locker room. "The only thing we had to do was just go out there and play to our potential, and we didn't do none of that."

The Deacons (5-11, 14-15), meanwhile, had no intention of seeing U.Va. crowned at their expense.

"We did talk about the fact that we did not want them doing that on our floor," Wake coach Skip Prosser said.

Virginia closed to 74-71 on a 3-pointer by freshman forward Jamil Tucker with 1:00 left, and the score hadn't changed when senior forward Jason Cain went to the line for two shots with 21.1 seconds left.

Cain made his first free throw, but his second rimmed out. The 6-0 Singletary leaped and got his hands on the ball. His follow shot bounced off the rim, however, and Wake made 4 of 6 free throws from there to secure the victory.

The regular season ends today in the ACC. Virginia (11-5, 20-9) is assured a share of the regular-season championship and can still win the title outright for the first time since 1981 -- but only if North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Boston College all lose today. Depending on today's outcomes, U.Va. could be seeded anywhere from No. 1 to No. 4 in Tampa, Fla.

About 40 hours after beating Virginia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena, U.Va. took the court at Joel, where it last won in 2000. The Deacons scored the game's first five points, and Virginia coach Dave Leitao, unhappy with his players' lack of focus, called a timeout 111 seconds in.

"Two games of this magnitude, this late in the year, this much on the line, in less than 48 hours, that's a tough thing," Leitao said. "But if you really want to call yourself a champion and you're in a position [to do that], you have to overcome anything and everything in your way."

The sense of urgency that carried U.Va. to victory over the No. 21 Hokies never appeared yesterday. The list of Cavaliers who struggled began with Reynolds -- who'd torched Wake for a career-high 40 points at the JPJ in January -- and also included big men Cain, Tunji Soroye and Ryan Pettinella, forward Adrian Joseph and swingman Mamadi "Mo" Diane.

Three U.Va. players made significant contributions off the bench: Jamil Tucker, Will Harris and Laurynas Mikalauskas, who hit 9 of 14 shots among them and combined for 26 points. After Singletary and Reynolds, however, Virginia's top scoring threats are Diane and Joseph, and those two combined for four points yesterday.

On an afternoon when Reynolds missed 11 of 14 field goal attempts -- he was 3 for 15 against Virginia -- their timing was awful.

Singletary finished with a game-high 25 points, but a change in defensive strategy by Wake made it difficult for him to work free in the second half. After scoring most of his 17 first-half points against 5-11 point guard Ishmael Smith, Singletary found himself matched against bigger, more physical guards. Hale (6-2, 186) and L.D. Williams (6-4, 210) shadowed him in the second half.

U.Va. shot only 35.9 percent from the floor. The Deacons, at 36.7 percent, weren't much more accurate, but they outrebounded Virginia 47-44 and got strong efforts from their two seniors, center Kyle Visser (17 points, 10 rebounds) and forward Michael Drum (16 points).

The Cavaliers were left to ponder their lost opportunity.

"It's extremely frustrating to know you have a goal at hand, and the chemistry isn't there, and there's no real heart by being shown by any of us," Singletary said. "We all struggled in that department today."

 

UVa returns to pack
The chances of the Cavs winning the ACC outright are hurt by Wake.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Virginia's failure to win an outright ACC regular-season championship came down to its inability to beat a last-place team with a losing record.

It happened Saturday for the second time in 11 days, as Wake Forest defeated Virginia 78-72 at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

Just as it had Feb. 21 in a 68-60 loss at Miami, Virginia could not hold onto a halftime lead and dropped into a tie with Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College in the loss column.

All three of those teams must lose today for the Cavaliers (20-9, 11-5 ACC) to earn the first seed for the ACC Tournament, which starts Thursday in Tampa, Fla.

"A couple of years ago, when we won the regular-season championship, we did it at N.C. State," Wake coach Skip Prosser said. "I'm sure that did not sit well with N.C. State and we did not want Virginia doing that on our floor.

"One of the things we tried to do when we got here six years ago was we wanted to make 'The Joel' a tough place to play. In all candor, it hasn't been tough enough the last two years. That's one thing we talked about, not letting them celebrate a regular-season ACC championship here."

The Deacons (14-15, 5-11) lost six consecutive ACC games in January but closed out the regular season by winning five of their last six home games, four against conference opponents.

The day began with ceremonies honoring Wake's two scholarship seniors, Kyle Visser and Mike Drum, and they responded in turn. Visser finished with a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Drum had 16.

L.D. Williams, a 6-foot-4 freshman, added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Williams and Drum were part of a halftime switch that put Williams on Virginia point guard Sean Singletary, who scored 17 points in pacing Virginia to a 39-35 halftime lead, and moved Drum to J.R. Reynolds.

Singletary and Reynolds were a combined 3-for-16 from the field in the second half and 10-for-33 for the game. Reynolds followed up a 3-for-15 shooting night against Virginia Tech with a 3-for-14 game Saturday, and he also had six turnovers.

"Just didn't have it today," said Reynolds, who finished with 11 points. "That's two bad games. What can I say?"

Tipoff Saturday came approximately 40 hours after Virginia gained a share of the regular-season title Thursday night with a 69-56 victory over Virginia Tech in Charlottesville.

It was UVa's shortest turnaround in the conference schedule, "but, if you want to call yourself a champion, you've got to overcome anything and everything in your way," UVa coach Dave Leitao said.

The Cavaliers had the ball to start the second and failed to score on their first six possessions, but Wake didn't exactly pull away.

The Deacons never led by more than six points until freshman Ish Smith hit two free throws to make it 74-68 with 1:26 left. Even then, it wasn't over.

UVa freshman Jamil Tucker hit a 3-pointer to make it a 74-71 game with 1:03 remaining; then, after Smith air-balled a jumper at the end of the shot clock, the Deacs fouled Jason Cain on a dunk attempt with 21 seconds left.

Had Cain converted the dunk, he would have had a free throw to tie the score. As it was, he made only the first of two free throws, although Singletary rebounded the second. However, his rushed put-back attempt only grazed the rim.

"I thought I got pushed," Singletary said, "but you can't expect to get that kind of call at that point."

It wasn't as if the officials had swallowed their whistles. They called 54 fouls, including a season-high 31 personals on the Cavaliers.

Wake made only five of its first 12 free throws in the second half, but Virginia was powerless to take advantage.

The Cavaliers shot 35.9 percent from the field -- their third consecutive road game under 40 percent -- and they were 5-of-20 on 3-pointers.

"I don't think we're a hard team to figure out," Leitao said. "When you look at the 3-pointers from Adrian [Joseph], Moe [Diane] and J.R, that's not them."

Joseph, Diane and Reynolds, who were responsible for 130 3-point field goals in the Cavaliers' first 28 games, combined to go 0-for-12 from beyond the arc Saturday.

Reynolds had scored a career-high 40 points in the first meeting between the teams, won by the Cavaliers 88-76 in Charlottesville on Jan. 21.

"They're human," Leitao said of Reynolds and Singletary, the Cavaliers' top two scorers. "The same way we praised the alternative guys the other day, we can criticize them, too. It's a total team effort for J.R. and all the other guys who didn't put their best foot forward."

It was no consolation to Reynolds that the Cavaliers would emerge with at least a tie for the regular-season title.

"It's a huge difference," he said. "When you share a title with somebody, that's sharing something you don't want to share."

 

These Cavaliers miss a golden chance to be mentioned alongside a great Ralph Sampson team.
David Teel
March 4 2007

WINSTON -- salem, N.C.

Less than two minutes in, Virginia coach Dave Leitao called timeout, laced into his entire team and dropped a baritone f-bomb on center Tunji Soroye.

Sad commentary that.

Not Leitao's salty tongue. If profanity and/or decibels offend you, find a pursuit other than major college sports.

No, the problem Saturday was Leitao's players. A squad playing for a championship, albeit the regular-season variety, shouldn't need such scolding, shouldn't need reminding of the stakes.

That the Cavaliers required a smack upside the head speaks to the team's flaws and the ACC's parity, and in that sense, Wake Forest's 78-72 victory in the regular-season finale for both was absolutely appropriate.

Seriously, does Virginia, with two gifted talents surrounded by a maddeningly mercurial supporting cast, strike anyone as an outright ACC regular-season champ? On par with Duke last year, North Carolina the year before and Duke before that?

Yet the Cavaliers would have been precisely that had they defeated the 11th-place Demon Deacons. Heck, Virginia still could backdoor its way to an outright title if Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College all spit the bit today.

More likely, and fittingly, the regular season will conclude this evening with a first-place logjam, perhaps among four teams. It's been that kind of year, only the second in ACC history in which five conference defeats are good enough for first.

Virginia (20-9, 11-5 ACC) will at least share the title for the first time since 1995, a notable pelt for a program without an NCAA tournament bid since 2001. But what the Cavaliers wanted was their second outright championship and first since 1981, when sophomore Ralph Sampson led Virginia to its first Final Four.

"It was there right in front of us and we didn't grab it," reserve forward Will Harris said.

Right there, indeed, against the ACC's worst defensive team. Right there against an opponent that started three freshmen and shot 36.7 percent.

But Virginia showed none of the verve that marked its victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night. The defense that allowed the Hokies a meager four fast-break points yielded 17 Saturday. The defense that committed 17 fouls Thursday had a season-high 31 Saturday.

Now factor in 3-point shooting. The Cavaliers made 10-of-16 against Tech, 5-of-20 against Wake.

It all points to heavy legs on a short turnaround of less than 48 hours.

"I guess so," forward Jason Cain said, "but we gotta get used to it."

Yes they do. There are no days off in the ACC tournament - Virginia plays a Friday quarterfinal in Tampa, Fla. The NCAA tournament forces teams to play on a day's rest.

Leitao wanted no part of the fatigue angle, calling it "more excuse than reality." But clearly he sensed problems early.

His first timeout came with the Cavaliers down 5-0, after Wake's L.D. Williams encountered no resistance on a baseline drive-and-dunk. He substituted like a madman, jerking guys out of the game for the first transgression, groping for the right combination.

The only Cavaliers who shot well were reserves Harris, Jamil Tucker and Laurynas Mikalauskas - a combined 9-for-14. The rest of the team was 14-for-50, 28 percent.

All-ACC lock Sean Singletary missed seven of eight after halftime; running mate J.R. Reynolds missed 11 of 14 overall, leaving him in a 6-for-29 funk over the last two games.

"That's the last thing I'm worried about," Reynolds said. "I'm just upset about losing. ... My shot's gonna be there."

Leitao blamed poor offensive spacing and ill-timed defensive breakdowns. He said that darn near every team, including his, is imperfect. The word "upset," he maintained, is obsolete.

That's certainly true of the ACC. But so is this: Lack of rest notwithstanding, Virginia lost to an inferior team on a day when Singletary, Reynolds and Soroye could have been mentioned in the same breath as Sampson, Lamp and Raker.

"If you want to call yourself a champion," Leitao said, "you've got to overcome anything and everything in your way."
 

Drum, Visser spark Deacs
Seniors help WFU stun 1st-place Virginia 78-72
By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER

Wake Forest, ripe to spoil Virginia's run to a first-place finish in the ACC regular season, rode the emotions of Senior Day to a supercharged 78-72 victory at Joel Coliseum.

Seniors Kyle Visser and Michael Drum combined for 33 points and Visser added 10 rebounds to lift Wake Forest out of the conference cellar going into this week's ACC Tournament in Tampa. The Deacons, who improved to 14-15 overall and 5-11 in conference play, will be seeded 11th in Thursday's first round, and will play the No. 6 seed.

Virginia, meanwhile, missed its shot at finishing alone atop the ACC standings by missing 22 of the 31 shots that it took in the second half. The Cavaliers, held to 29 percent after halftime and 36 percent for the game, fell to 20-9 overall and 11-5 in conference play.

"Virginia is a really good team and I thought our defensive effort to keep them at 36 percent is probably the best we've had all year,'' Coach Skip Prosser of WFUsaid.

Only 2.4 seconds remained, with the Deacons comfortably ahead, when Cameron Stanley and Anthony Gurley checked into the game and Visser and Drum left to a thunderous ovation.

"That's the way it should be,'' Visser said. "You should win on Senior Night and you should be able to get taken out.

"(Friday) night, thinking about it, dreaming about it, that's what I wanted. I wanted to be up at the end of the game by a big enough cushion and to just come out of the game, hug the coaches and know that we've got a win.''

The Deacons' underclassmen talked for days about sending Visser and Drum out with a win, and yesterday several contributed vital performances. Point guard Ish Smith had eight assists and nine rebounds and fed Visser for a dunk that gave the Deacons their first six-point cushion with 1:40 left. Jamie Skeen finished with 11 points and four rebounds and both he and Harvey Hale made clutch 3-pointers off assists from Smith as Wake Forest started to take control in the final five minutes.

But the Deacons may have still come up short without the inspired defense of freshman L.D. Williams, who guarded J.R. Reynolds in the first half and Sean Singletary in the second. Reynolds, who torched the Deacons for 40 points in Charlottesville, made only three of 14 field-goal attempts for 11 points and Singletary scored eight of his 25 points after halftime.

"I just did what I knew how to do,'' Williams said. "I locked up.

"I had Reynolds in the first half and Coach Prosser said 'Accept the challenge.'

"I just really, really made it a point of emphasis. I really didn't even want to score today. My whole focus was to get the seniors a win here on their day at the Joel and shutting down J.R. Reynolds.''

But after Singletary physically overpowered Smith to make six of 11 shots from the floor in the first half, Prosser assigned Williams to Singletary and Drum to Reynolds. Singletary, knocked off his game by the 6-4, 210-pound Williams, made just one of eight field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes.

Williams played his role with flair, bodying up to Singletary during play stoppage and prompting the officials to play peacemaker repeatedly.

"Sometimes I'm ready to fight on the court,'' Williams said. "I'm just that competitive. I hate to lose.

"Coach talks about how it's not your will to win, it's about how much you hate to lose. I really hate to lose, and a point of emphasis was stepping up on defense.''

Singletary hit his last field goal with 4 1/2 minutes left, cutting the Deacons' lead to 65-64, but missed a jumper with a little more than a minute remaining and a follow shot from the lane with 17 seconds left. The follow would have tied the game at 74, but Skeen rebounded and hit two free throws for a 76-72 lead.

The Deacons noticed that Singletary's demeanor, which was sunny in the first half, changed after Williams took the defensive assignment.

"He was complaining to the refs every five seconds,'' Skeen said. "I was like, 'L.D. really isn't doing anything to him.'

"L.D. played a great game.''

Virginia had its last real shot at pulling out the win after Skeen's two free throws and again Singletary missed. Visser made two free throws with 10.3 seconds left to seal the victory.

"It didn't make up for a long season but it definitely helped to have a good ending here at the Joel,'' Visser said. "Coach came in and said 'I'm so proud of you guys.' And that's something we haven't heard a whole lot this season.

"And that's no knock on him. That's a knock on us."
 

Deacons refuse to let Cavaliers have ACC party on court at Joel
By Lenox Rawlings
JOURNAL COLUMNIST

No university loves history more than Virginia, the Jeffersonian masterpiece that ranks a close runner-up to the Declaration of Independence among dutiful Cavaliers.

Few universities hunger for a sliver of basketball history more than Virginia, which thrashed about in the ACC wilderness for decades, never fulfilled title expectations during the Ralph Sampson heyday and recently slid into disheveled disrepair.

The Cavaliers arrived at Joel Coliseum yesterday flush with victory over Virginia Tech and one brush stroke shy of a solo first-place finish. In 54 ACC seasons, they have lorded over every other team just once, in 1981, and even then suffered the indignity of the NCAA semifinals loss to North Carolina.

This time, the table was set: one up with one to go, facing a Wake Forest bunch scrambling to escape the cellar.

But this time turned out like so many other times. The Deacons ripped the linen off the table, scattered the silverware and shattered the dainty crystal dreams.

The Deacons won 78-72 behind spirited seniors Kyle Visser and Michael Drum, concocting a solid upset that revived flu-stricken Coach Skip Prosser and floored the Cavaliers.

Once again, Prosser invoked memories of 2003, when Josh Howard supplied the last remnants of demonic defense and Wake Forest finished first all by itself.

"When we won the regular season, we did it at N.C. State and I'm sure it didn't sit well with those guys," Prosser said. "We did talk about the fact we did not want them doing that on our floor."

Drum supplied an instant verbal replay of the coughing coach's diatribe: "I'll be durned if they're going to come in here and cut down our nets and celebrate in our locker room over there."

No one could remember the Deacons cutting down State's nets, and no one suspected that Virginia would have been so crass, but never mind. The issue is moot. The Cavaliers (20-9, 11-5 ACC) hold at least a share of first place but will need serious help to avert a tie. If Carolina can beat Duke or Boston College can beat Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech can beat Clemson today, Virginia will have company.

An academic might ask: Is there any substantial difference between first place and a first-place tie?

The question almost caused whiplash in the locker room chair of guard J.R. Reynolds, who missed 11 of 14 shots two days after missing 12 of 15 shots against Virginia Tech.

"It's a huge difference," Reynolds said. "Sharing a title with somebody, that's just like you sharing something with somebody you don't want to share it with."

Wake Forest beat Virginia on the backboards, at the foul line and, narrowly, from the field (37 percent to 36 percent). Freshman L.D. Williams soared above the rim for 10 rebounds and slipped under the remarkably thin skin of guard Sean Singletary, an All-ACC veteran who scored 25 points but made only 1 of 8 shots after Williams started guarding him in the second half.

Reynolds ditched the stats and identified intangible factors as Virginia's undoing.

"I don't think we had the urgency," he said. "I don't think we competed for 40 minutes. I don't think we did a good job on defense. We definitely didn't do a good job with the offense."

Those are strange shortcomings for a team on the doorstep of long-awaited glory, especially an overachieving team picked to finish eighth. Singletary certainly sensed the odd twists of latent fate.

"We definitely didn't do anything right today," Singletary said. "It was just a lack of energy from the beginning, no resiliency, not much heart. They wanted it more than us. It was their Senior Night. They know we were chasing a championship, and they wanted to spoil it for us. We didn't have enough fight to defend.

"It's really frustrating when you know that you have a goal in hand, your attention's not there and there's no real heart being shown by any of us. We all struggled in that department, and that was the biggest part of it."

Coach Dave Leitao stomped on quite a few egos, if not hearts, during a two-hour sideline rant against sloppiness. The Cavaliers heard the words, often averting their eyes as their ears burned, but the words didn't translate into sufficient actions.

"In the grand scheme of things, you give away a grand opportunity, but, again, whenever you don't play well enough to win, it becomes very, very disappointing," Leitao said.

If he wanted an excuse, Leitao could always cite the short recovery period after the Tech game.

"That's a tough turnaround, two games of this magnitude this late in the year with this much on the line in less than 48 hours," Leitao said. "That's a tough thing, but, again, it put us in a position. If you really want to call yourselves a champion, you put yourself in a position. You have to overcome anything and everything in your way. Somewhere along the line next weekend, someone's going to be crowned champions. They're going to have to face adversity and play three games in three days to do it, or four games in four days to do it. The week after that, somebody's going to have to face adversity. You've got to do it."

Three ACC teams will play for a piece of Virginia's cake today. If all three fail, the Cavaliers will succeed on television despite failing on the Joel Coliseum floor.

Singletary winced, a hint of disgust on his lower lip.

"Personally," he said, "I'm not going to look at any games. I'm getting away from basketball a little bit."

Sometimes that's the way folks deal with history. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

Virginia gets in gear, closes out Syracuse
No. 5 Cavaliers settle it with three-goal surge in third
By Mike Preston
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 4, 2007

It wasn't the perfect game, but it was a complete game by Virginia.

At different points during the contest, the No. 5 Cavaliers played great defense, superb offense and overcame injuries. They were able to get a nice lead and then close out it out in the final quarter as they defeated No. 9 Syracuse, 11-8, yesterday before 20,180 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Mission accomplished.

"The most important part of today's game is how we closed out the last 10 minutes," said Virginia attackman Ben Rubeor, who finished with three goals and two assists. "We established a lead and proved to ourselves that we can hold onto that lead. We didn't make the smartest plays out there, but we continue to play hard and get the ball off the ground, and I believe we can grow from this."

That in itself was a huge statement -- when a team is suffering from growing pains and can still beat the Orange. Virginia (2-1) is a team in transition trying to find the right chemistry. The Cavaliers have defenseman Tim Shaw handling a short stick for the first time, and midfielder Will Barrow has also been moved around. Ken Clausen is in his first season playing on close defense.

Virginia coach Dom Starsia is working a lot of combinations, and it's showing up on the field during this young season. The Cavaliers gave up six goals in the first quarter as the game was tied at 7 at the half, but then held Syracuse (1-2) scoreless for the final 20 minutes of the game.

What happened?

Virginia goalie Kip Turner got hot in the second half with nine saves compared with only three in the first. With each save, defensemen Matt Kelly, Ricky Smith and Clausen became more confident and even more daring.

"I thought we had a good scheme defensively, which we didn't implement at all in the first quarter," Starsia said. "I thought it was a terrific lacrosse game, two good teams getting after it. I thought there was a lot of nervous energy out there on the field in the fist quarter. I thought we were heading to another 22-21 [game] again for a minute, and I was not happy about it, frankly. But Kip made a couple of stops for us and got us going."

"I was a little nervous there at the beginning after the first quarter," Turner said. "Obviously, I was a little shaken. At halftime, you've got to gather yourself. You know goals are going to be scored, and that's going to happen, but you have to move on."

The game remained close until the final four minutes of the third period when Virginia scored three unanswered goals for a 10-8 lead at the end of the period.

The Cavaliers didn't do anything fancy during the scoring surge, just matching up one on one with Syracuse players behind the goal, and beating them.

Rubeor scored with 4:33 left in the third quarter when he left Orange defender Evan Brady a step behind from the left of the goal. Virginia midfielder Foster Gilbert then isolated on Syracuse midfielder John Carrozza with 3:11 remaining and fellow middie Danny Glading closed out the scoring in the period with 49 seconds remaining.

Virginia midfielder Drew Thompson scored the only goal of the fourth quarter with 7:39 remaining as the largest crowd to witness a regular-season college lacrosse game began to file out of the stadium.

"When you play Syracuse, you like to attack them as much as you can, and you kind of see what happens," Starsia said. "They're not a team where you can anticipate their defensive patterns, so you've got to bring it on your own, first and foremost.

"If you can get to the goal unextended, you just keep coming, and you might be able to turn the corner a couple of times and get some opportunities. Clearly, our guys have to play with their heads up, and it doesn't get any more complicated than that."