Sean Singletary

Virginia defender Jamil Tucker (12) battles Vermont's Marqus Blakely for a rebound in Charlottesville yesterday.

Virginia hosts season opener against Vermont

Date published: 11/12/2007

BY TAFT COGHILL JR.

CHARLOTTESVILLE--Sean Singletary is in need of a running mate this season. Adrian Joseph's campaign to be that man got off to a quick start yesterday.

In Virginia's men's basketball season-opener in John Paul Jones Arena, Joseph, a senior swingman, demonstrated that he would like to take the job formerly held by standout shooting guard J.R. Reynolds, who graduated last year and took his 18.4 points per game with him.

Joseph tied the preseason All-America Singletary with a team-high 19 points in the Cavaliers' 90-72 victory over Vermont.

He made five 3-pointers, including three in the first seven minutes of the game.

"Being one of the seniors and being through the wars, I think it's my time to help lead," Joseph said. "I have to show the freshmen what it's all about."

The Cavaliers (1-0) also got double-figure scoring outputs from reserve sophomore guard Calvin Baker (11 points) and junior guard Mamadi Diane (10 points).

They built a 46-32 halftime lead behind 11 points from Joseph on 4-of-5 shooting. Virginia head coach Dave Leitao said Joseph has shown "a sense of urgency" early in his final season.

"I'm beginning to think he can be a pretty vital piece," Leitao said. "Not just because he can shoot the ball, but he's attached emotionally and mentally. He wasn't always that way."

Vermont (0-2) played Virginia just two days after losing 60-53 at George Mason.

Catamounts head coach Mike Lonergan said the program decided to double up on an early season trip to Virginia because of "budget constraints."

While Vermont lost both games, Lonergan said fatigue wasn't a factor.

Yesterday, his team allowed Virginia to shoot 55 percent from the floor, including 9-of-19 from 3-point range.

Lonergan said he's close friends with Joseph's cousin, and he warned his players about the Trinidad native's outside shooting prowess.

"We just did a poor job guarding the 3-point line, especially in the first half," Lonergan said. "That is why they got off to such a great start."

The Cavaliers' largest lead was 19 points. They built a 32-19 first-half lead on a Singletary pull-up jumper, but Vermont rallied to trim the deficit to 36-30 on two Marqus Blakely free throws.

Blakely finished with a game-high 24 points, and helped his team prevent an embarrassing blowout loss.

"This could've been 40 if we packed it in," Lonergan said. "Virginia was very confident and they were shooting the lights out. We just couldn't make a run."

Nine points was the closest Vermont was able to get in the second half.

The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Catamounts 46-25. In addition to his 19 points, Singletary had five rebounds, six assists and four steals, but also committed six of Virginia's 18 turnovers.

Still, he said yesterday's victory increases his confidence that the Cavaliers have what it takes to defend their Atlantic Coast Conference title.

They avoided the upset bug that has plagued Kentucky, Georgia Tech and Southern Cal, among others, early in the college basketball season.

"People really don't believe we have enough to defend our title or even to contend," Singletary said. "I have the utmost confidence in my teammates that we can contend."

VERMONT 74 VIRGINIA 90

Date published: 11/12/2007