Senior guard Sean Singletary wasn't about to let his celebrated career come to an end Monday as he scored eight points in the final 29.6 seconds in Virginia's 80-76 victory over Old Dominion.
The Cavaliers (17-15) advanced to the third round of the College Basketball Invitational and will meet the winner of Monday night's game between Ohio University and Bradley.
Will update upon returning to Roanoke.
Mark Berman here from Blacksburg, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team leads UAB 36-21 at halftime in the second round of the NIT.
The Hokies, who made their first 15 shots of the second half in last week's first-round win over Morgan State, made seven of their first eight shots tonight, including going 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Tech built a 19-7 lead with 15:39 to go.
UAB's top player, All-Conference USA first-team pick Robert Vaden, played only 16 minutes because of foul trouble. He played with 2 fouls for part of the time. He picked up a foul in the first 30 seconds, causing UAB coach Mike Davis to go livid. Vaden, a 3-point ace, is 1-of-9 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range. He has just two points.
Tech has shot 46.7 percent from the field to the Blazers' 35.7 percent. UAB has 10 turnovers to Tech's three.
Deron Washington has 11 points. AD Vsssallo is 2-of-2 from long range but went to the bench with his 2nd foul with 7:45 to go. Malcolm Delaney has nine points and two 3-pointers.
UAB at Virginia Tech
9 p.m. at Cassell Coliseum
Records: Tech 20-13; UAB 23-10
TV: ESPN
Tech probable starters: F Deron Washington (127 ppg), F Jeff Allen (12.1 ppg), C Lewis Witcher (2.6 ppg), G A.D. Vassallo (16.9 ppg), G Malcolm Delaney (9.2 ppg).
UAB probable starters: 6-10 F Jeremy Mayfield (4.3 rpg), F Reggie Huffman (7.6 ppg), G-F Robert Vaden (21.4 ppg), G Channing Toney (10.8 ppg), G Aaron Johnson (5.2 ppg).
Notes: Tech is the top seed in its eight-team NIT bracket, with UAB seeded fifth. UAB won 80-77 at VCU in the first round. … The Blazers went 12-4 in Conference USA, including a 79-78 loss to Memphis last month. Vaden, who has a school-record 686 points this season, made the all-conference first team. Forward Lawrence Kinnard, who averages 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds off the bench, was a third-team pick. … The Blazers, who have won 15 of their last 19 games, are steered by former Indiana coach Mike Davis. His son is on the team. … Toney, a Georgia transfer, is the son of former Philadelphia 76ers guard Andrew Toney. … Backup guard Tyler Marsh is the son of UAB assistant Donnie Marsh, who was a Tech assistant under Ricky Stokes. … Tech boosters donated another 3,000 tickets to Tech students for tonight’s game. … If Tech wins, it will face the Nebraska-Mississippi winner at 7 or 9 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2.
Upated: 6:06 p.m.
Washington U. center Troy Ruths was too much to handle for Amherst on Saturday at the Salem Civic Center. Ruths scored 33 points and got plenty of outside shooting help from his teammates and Washington won its first national championship 90-68.
Amherst (27-4) failed to defend the championship in won in Salem last year.
Washington (25-6) saw its 13-point halftime lead shrink to 55-49 with 15:09 left on a basket by Brian Baskauskas. But Washington went on a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to build a 69-51 lead. The lead remained in double digits for the remainder of the game.
Aaron Thompson added 19 points and Tyler Nading 13 for Washington.
Fletcher Walters led Amherst with 17 points and Andrew Olson had 16 points and six assists.
Ruths was named the Most Outstanding Player of the final four. Joining him on the all-tournament team was teammate Thompson and Amherst's Olson and Derek Van Solkema of Hope and John Noonan of Ursinus.
4:45 p.m. Saturday
Amherst's quest to win consecutive national championships in Salem is in danger at halftime. The Lord Jeffs trail Washington U. of St. Louis 45-32.
It was all Troy Ruths in the low post for much of the first half for the Bears as he wheeled and dealed in the lane for 17 points. He scored in a variety of ways or was able to get to the free-throw line as Amherst used four different players to guard the 6-foot-6 center. The Lord Jeffs opened with 6-10 Kevin Hopkins, then went to 6-7 Brandon Jones, 6-6 Matt Goldsmith off the bench and 6-6 Mike Holsey off the bench. Holsey, probably the best leaper on the floor, didn't play in Friday's semifinal until the final minutes when the outcome was no longer in doubt. Ruths scored 30 in Friday's semifinal win over Hope.
The Bears look for Ruths every time down the floor. But when they can't get him the ball, they had plenty of other shooters, led by Aaron Thompson with 11 points and Tyler Nading with seven.
Amherst point guard Andrew Olson, who dominated Friday's semifinal win over Ursinus with a triple-double, couldn't find many good open shots. He had only six points but had four important assists, two on backdoor plays. His assists came at a time when the Lord Jeffs were cutting a 25-12 lead to 35-27 with 3:36 to play in the half.
From there, Washington closed the half with a 10-5 run.
-- Jeff Gilbert
Updated: Saturday, March 29, 3:36 p.m.
It's three hours before the regional finals begin, and we have an excellent chance to see four No. 1 seeds reach the Final Four for the first time. I picked all but Memphis to go, but after what the Tigers did to Michigan State last night my confidence in that pick is a bit less than it was.
I'm all for Davidson knocking off Kansas so we can see more of Stephen Curry, but the Jayhawks are awfully good. This is one Goliath that won't be overconfident. Rush, Robinson and Chalmers, I'm afraid, are just too much.
Xavier has been fiesty and resilient, but UCLA is just too big and too strong. And if it wasn't for Curry, we' be talking about Kevin Love being the best player left in the tournament.
North Carolina is supposed to be in this position so we take them for granted. Louisville is back on the national scene and playing well, so it's easy to sway toward them. But the Tar Heels are so hard to guard because they have so many weapons in the starting lineup and coming off the bench.
I have Texas beating Memphis, and I still expect that will happen. This is a great matchup of guards and athletes. Memphis is playing its best basketball right now probably because so many have been saying they are the most vulnerable No. 1 seed and most likely to be the first one beaten. So the Tigers will come very close.
Original post
After an uneventful first day, those 12s and 13s winning in Tampa on Friday surely busted some brackets out there.
Did you have UConn going on a big run? What about Drake, Clemson and Vanderbilt?
My bracket didn't suffer too much damage. I had Clemson and UConn getting to the Sweet 16, but that was as far as I was willing to take those teams. Some my Sweet 16 is down to 14 survivors heading into the second round.
Here's the link to my bracket. In the related box, just click the words that say Download Jeff Gilbert's bracket.
Let me know how you're doing by leaving a comment. Is your Sweet 16 intact? Have you lost a Final Four team? Who's in your Final Four and why? -- Jeff Gilbert
Amherst will play for it's second straight Division III men's basketball title Saturday at Salem Civic Center.
The Lord Jeffs dominated Ursinus on Friday in an 84-58 romp and will play Washington, Mo., on Saturday at 4 p.m. Washington defeated Hope 89-74.
Point guard Andrew Olson had what he said was the first triple-double of his life with 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. His previous rebounding high was six.
Ursinus star Nick Shattuck was held to 10 points on 3 of 16 shooting. He was playing on two injured ankles and an injured heel.
Troy Ruths scored 30 points to lead Washington.
-- Jeff Gilbert
Virginia Tech will host UAB at 9 p.m. Monday in the second round of the NIT. The game will air on ESPN.
If Tech wins, it will host the Nebraska-Ole Miss winner at 7 or 9 Wednesday on ESPN2, with a berth in the semifinals at Madison Square Garden on the line
Mark Berman back here in Blacksburg, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team beat Morgan State 94-62 in the first round of the NIT in front of more than 9,000 fans.
"They shot the cover off the ball, .... great crowd, the NCAA pissed them off, so there was a whole lot of different things," Bears coach Todd Bozeman said.
The Hokies will face UAB in the second round on Monday at a time to be determined. UAB won 80-77 at VCU in another first-round game.
Tech, left out of the NCAA field, is two wins away from the NIT final four at Madison Square Garden.
"We had probably the two best practices we had in awhile," said AD Vassallo, who had 27 points and three treys and was 11-of-14 from the field. "Everybody was focused. Everybody is pulling in the same direction -- going to New York and trying to win this tournament."
The Hokies shot 65.4 percent from the field, including a school-record 82.6 percent in the second half.
"We came and had two good days of practice and it carried over to the game," said Malcolm Delaney, who had 13 points and three treys. "When we get stops, the offense runs well. We're a good transition team and when we got stops, we got out and ran, and that got the crowd into it. And when the crowd gets into it, I think we pick it up to another level."
"We was just making the extra pass, getting open shots," Deron Washington said. "It made the game so much easier. AD was knocking every shot down. We was running on the break, getting rebounds, running on the break and getting layups, getting wide-open shots in the corner."
Mark Berman here in Blacksburg, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team leads Morgan State 40-25 in the first round of the NIT.
The game is being played in front of a near-capacity crowd.
AD Vassallo already has 19 points. He and Malcolm Delaney each have three 3-pointers.
The Hokies are shooting 51.7 percrent from the field to Morgan State's 37.9 percent.
Cal transfer Marquise Kately has 11 points for the Bears. MEAC Player of the Year Jamar Smith, who missed the team's MEAC title game loss Saturday with a bruised foot, has scored four points off the bench.
Down 16-14 with 11:55 to go, the Hokies went on an 18-5 run to build a 32-21 cushion with 6:25 to go.
The Hokies have six 3-pointers, one more than their season average.
Back with more after the game.
Sean Singletary scored on a short jumper with 1:15 remaining to give Virginia its first lead of the second half and the Cavaliers defeated Richmond 66-64 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.
The Cavaliers, who trailed by 12 points with less than 8 1/2 minutes remaining, will serve as host to a second-round game Monday against Old Dominion. The Monarchs (18-15) held off Rider 68-65 in Norfolk.
A crowd of 4,022, smallest in two seasons at John Paul Jones Arema, saw Virginia come back from a 61-49 deficit by holding Richmond to one field goal in its last 14 possessions. The Spiders (16-15) missed 10 of their last 11 shots from the field.
Richmond's Dan Geriot, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, led all scorers with 22 points. Singletary, a senior point guard, had a team-high 18 for the Cavaliers (16-15).
Junior Mamadi Diane, no longerr a starter for Virginia, played 33 minutes and contributed 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Virginia had 17 turnovers, compared to 10 for the Spiders. UVa outrebounded the visitors 33-25.
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