A few days ago, a desperate last-second shot from inside half court nearly won a basketball game for the Virginia Cavaliers (11-8, 5-4 ACC). Saturday, a similar shot almost cost the Cavaliers a game against Wake Forest (12-10, 1-8 ACC). Moments after J.R. Reynolds hit a baseline jumper with 4.1 seconds left to give the Cavaliers a 75-73 advantage, Wake Forest's Justin Gray launched a shot from inside half- court that bounced off the rim as time expired.
"When games come down to something last-second, you have to be real careful," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "Sometimes plays are made. I knew Justin Gray was going to take the shot -- I think everyone in the building knew that, and I knew J.R. was going to try to guard him as best" he could.
Gray, however, was only forced into taking a desperation shot because of some late-game heroics by the Cavaliers. Adrian Joseph put up a three-pointer with about 30 seconds left that rimmed out. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, freshman Mamadi Diane was in position to grab his 10th total rebound -- and fourth offensive board -- of the afternoon to give Virginia a fresh possession with the shot clock turned off. With 16.9 seconds remaining Virginia called a timeout to set up a play.
After the timeout, Cavalier guard Sean Singletary started with the ball and began to dribble to the right, where he was soon double-teamed. Singletary was able to get the ball to Reynolds who took a quick dribble before sending off the shot that would provide the final score and bring his point total to a game-high 21.
"I think they were expecting me to come up," Singletary said. "But J.R. was wide open so I gave the ball to him and he made the shot."
That shot was just a small part of the wild close of the game for Virginia. Toward the end, the Cavaliers seemed to be pulling away, especially after Singletary drove the lane, spun and then hit an athletic jump shot to build a 73-69 lead with just over two minutes remaining. But Gray responded with a four-point play with 2:06 left to even the score for the Demon Deacons. The entire second half was close; Virginia held the largest lead of the half, a six-point margin, briefly with about nine minutes remaining.
The game also showed a more balanced offensive attack for the Cavaliers as four players scored in double figures. Aside from the high scorer Reynolds, Singletary (19 points), Joseph (14), and Jason Cain (13) all had double-digit point totals. Joseph, in particular, came alive in the second half, scoring 11 of his 14 points after the break. Cain also pulled down 10 rebounds to record his fifth double-double of the season.
"We tried to focus on it a lot today because Sean and J.R. are sometimes double-teamed," Cain said. "So we had to try to give them some leeway."
Virginia also was able to dominate the rebounding margin, 47-25 -- a surprising fact because entering the game Wake Forest had the highest rebounding margin of any ACC team. The Cavaliers had 21 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points. Cain and Diane both led the way with 10 rebounds apiece while Joseph added eight rebounds and Singletary added six. On the other hand, Wake Forest's Eric Williams entered the game tied for second in the ACC with an average of 8.8 rebounds per game, but was only able to pull down four rebounds for a share of the Deacon's team-high total.
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