A State of Despair

Cavaliers: Singletary Takes His Best Shot, but U-Va. Comes Up Short: Tennessee 77, Virginia 74

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 18 -- The abruptness stung most, Sean Singletary said. One second he rose from the floor to release a long three-pointer he knew would swish through the net and extend Virginia's season. The next second he dropped face-first to the hardwood and sobbed so violently his shoulders shook.

In between those moments, the Cavaliers lost a chance to push the Volunteers to overtime, to possibly advance to the round of 16, and to prolong one of the most memorable seasons in the program's recent history. Singletary's last-second shot from 23 feet Sunday rolled off the front of the rim and then clanked against the backboard, preserving fifth-seeded Tennessee's 77-74 win over fourth-seeded Virginia in a second-round South Region game at Nationwide Arena.

The Volunteers (24-10) stormed the court after Singletary's miss, celebrating their advance to play top-seeded Ohio State in San Antonio on Thursday. Virginia players and coaches, meantime, rushed to pull Singletary up off the court. They spent much of the next five minutes taking turns hugging and consoling him.

"It's hard to swallow," Singletary said later. "I really thought it was going in. I thought we were going to overtime. It's going to be a long time before it really sinks in that it's over."

With 5.9 seconds left and Virginia (21-11) trailing by three, Singletary fielded an inbounds pass under his own basket and dribbled down the court envisioning a career-defining moment. He had played an almost flawless second half, single-handedly keeping Virginia close by making a late three-pointer and six consecutive free throws. Just one more shot, Singletary thought, and Virginia would complete its comeback.

As Singletary dribbled across half court, Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl screamed for one of his players to commit a foul. In an earlier timeout, Pearl had outlined a clear strategy: Give Singletary or Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds two free throws instead of the chance to shoot even the most improbable three-pointer. "I guess they weren't listening," Pearl said.

Singletary dribbled around a screen and lifted into the air at the top of the three-point line before any Tennessee player could reach him. The junior guard liked the way the shot felt as it rolled off his hand: good backwards rotation and nice arc. When the ball rimmed out, Singletary said, it marked the lowest moment of his athletic career. He lay on the court until Virginia Coach Dave Leitao pulled him up and hugged him.

"When you get to this point in the season, it becomes a very cruel reality that at any moment in time it can all be over," Leitao said. "Most of what we did this season was with our heart on our sleeve, and there's a risk when you put it out there. Today was a day where we kind of got our hearts broken, particularly for J.R. and Sean."

The Virginia guards who led the Cavaliers to a share of the ACC regular season title tried to lift their teammates again. Reynolds, who became a legitimate star with his remarkable shooting in this NCAA tournament, scored 22 points in the first 14 minutes. He made four three-pointers, and he pumped his fist and nodded after many of them.

But, with 30 seconds left in the first half, Reynolds rolled his ankle as he drove hard to the basket and went to the locker room for treatment. When he returned to the court after halftime, he hobbled on defense and mostly avoided contact near the basket.

"I tried not to focus on it," Reynolds said. "But sometimes I felt like I couldn't really move."

Early in the second half, Pearl instructed his guards to drive at the gimpy Virginia player. Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith took turns challenging Reynolds with the dribble-drive, and they almost always beat him to the basket. Tennessee opened the half with a 19-6 run to build a 10-point lead.

Forced to create Virginia's comeback almost entirely by himself, Singletary darted stubbornly to the basket -- defenders be damned. Virginia's post players, meantime, left the lane and concentrated almost exclusively on setting picks for Singletary. The guard made six free throws in the final 35 seconds to consistently cut Tennessee's lead to three or four. But on each ensuing possession Virginia fouled Lofton, who made six free throws in the last 19 seconds to force Singletary's desperate three-pointer.

"It was kind of a shock when that shot fell off the rim," Reynolds said. "We did a lot of great things this year, but I didn't want my career to end like this. I thought I'd be out there, making plays, making shots. But it wasn't meant to happen."