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Singletary leads Virginia past Arizona

Nov 18, 2007 - 7:05 AM TUCSON, Arizona (Ticker) -- Sean Singletary scored 24 points and came through with some clutch plays down the stretch to lead Virginia to a 75-72 victory over 17th-ranked Arizona on Saturday.

Singletary hit two free throws with 1:22 remaining to give Virginia a 71-69 lead. He then extended the lead to 73-69 with a 15-foot jumper with 39 seconds to play.

Freshman Jerryd Bayless scored 21 points for Arizona (1-1), which had its chances in the closing seconds but could not execute down the stretch.

"We got stops down the end and I'm really proud of how we stuck together," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "We got out early, had a game plan and it worked."

Bayless answered Singletary's jumper with a 3-pointer to pull the Wildcats within 73-72 with 25 seconds remaining. Virginia (3-0) was unable to inbound the ball after a timeout and Arizona got the ball back with a chance to take the lead.

But the Wildcats had their own issues inbounding the ball. Bayless committed a turnover trying to keep himself from a backcourt violation and Adrian Joseph came up with the steal for Virginia.

Joseph went to the line for the first time this season and hit a pair of free throws. Arizona was unable to get off a tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds and also missed a pair of shots in the lane.

"We didn't execute and that cost us the game," Bayless said. "The last play comes down on me tonight. I messed up and that determined the game."

Jeff Jones was 5-of-7 from the arc and had 15 points for the Cavaliers, who made 9-of-13 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 42-31 lead.

"We lost the game in the first half with 13 turnovers and a lack of defense," Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill said. "We talked about limiting turnovers and we didn't do a good job."

Singletary was only 6-of-19 from the field, but was 11-of-11 from the line and added eight assists and four rebounds.

"They were really playing me physical and my field-goal percentage shows that," Singletary said. "I've never played against a defense as tough as that ever."

"He is a big time player and he hit big time shots," Leitao said of Singletary. "He didn't start out well but he went into attack mode in the second half."