Cavaliers Leave Terrapins Reeling

Singletary Dominates Backpedaling U-Md.: Virginia 91, Maryland 76

CHARLOTTESVILLE, March 9 -- In a final virtuoso performance before his home crowd, Virginia senior Sean Singletary provided his fans with a lasting memory on Sunday and dealt Maryland's season a devastating blow.

The drama that was expected to surround the final six days before Selection Sunday is now gone for the Terrapins, who saw their NCAA tournament at-large hopes all but crushed with a 91-76 loss to Virginia before a raucous crowd of 14,154 at John Paul Jones Arena.

Singletary had 27 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, and the guard seemed instrumental in almost every basket Virginia scored. Five other players scored in double figures for the Cavaliers, who finished an otherwise sour regular season by likely ruining another team's season.

Maryland's only path to the NCAA tournament might be to win the ACC tournament and claim the conference's automatic berth. The Terrapins (18-13, 8-8) have seen their postseason hopes slowly fade by losing five of their past seven games.

When asked how his team could reach the NCAA tournament, Maryland Coach Gary Williams said: "Whatever it is. We win the ACC tournament, we go to the NCAAs. That solves it."

Maryland is the No. 6 seed in the ACC tournament and will play No. 11 seed Boston College late Thursday night. Virginia (15-14, 5-11) is the No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 Georgia Tech on Thursday night.

After Sunday's game, Maryland players talked optimistically about their chances of winning the ACC tournament because the Terrapins won it in 2004. They said they would hold a team meeting Monday. But that did little to offset the disappointment of a poor defensive second half against Virginia.

Strong defensive play had been a touchstone for Maryland for much of the season, but the second half Sunday was filled with lapses that enabled the Cavaliers to make 62.5 percent of their shots in the half.

In a play that epitomized the breakdown, Virginia's Jamil Tucker easily dribbled around Maryland's Jerome Burney and converted a two-handed dunk that gave the Cavaliers an 11-point lead with about four minutes remaining. Maryland called a timeout and Bambale Osby grabbed the jerseys of teammates, imploring them to be more aggressive. "I'm like, 'Man, trip him up, push him, do something, dude,' " Osby said after the game. "Don't just let him get that, man. The guys' faces were just blank. That's not the response you want, not at this stage of the game."

Guard Greivis Vasquez said, "There was absolutely no effort on defense."

Offensively, Maryland relied on unlikely contributors to keep the game close until the final minutes. Osby scored 14 points and reserve guard Adrian Bowie had 15, but both battled foul trouble late in the game.

Maryland's James Gist fouled out with a little more than four minutes to play, finishing with only six points. He made 3 of 13 shots, mostly from outside, and did not shoot any free throws.