Just out of Virginia’s reach: Cavs fall to Virginia Tech

By Whitey Reid

Published: January 11, 2009

BLACKSBURG — In one corner, hailing from the City of Brotherly Love, was 6-foot, 179-pound Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski. In the other, hailing from the District of Columbia, was 6-foot-7, 230-pound Virginia Tech forward Jeff Allen. (Well, at least that’s Allen’s listed weight in the media guide).
With just under five minutes to play on Saturday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum, the Zeglinski-Allen bout started and ended when Zeglinski ran smack into Allen’s pick in the Hokies’ backcourt.
Down went Zeglinski.
As the redshirt freshman lay on the court for a few seconds looking like former boxer Michael Spinks, Hokie fans howled in delight. With Virginia trailing by 15 points, this was clearly their icing on the cake — an injured UVa player.
The game, however, proved far from over. Zeglinski and his Virginia teammates, behind a career-high 17 points from sophomore Mustapha Farrakhan — including 15 in the final 4:42 — were able to get off the canvas.
The Cavaliers, bidding to win their first two ACC games to start a season since the 1994-95 campaign, were able to cut the lead all the way down to a point. But the Hokies, behind 29 points from A.D. Vassallo and 24 points from Malcolm Delaney, hung on, 78-75, in front of a crowd of 9,847.
“Credit to them,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “They played hard. Vassallo and Delaney dictated the game offensively for them.
“Delaney did a great job of getting to the middle of the floor and making decisions and then when he got the ball back, making plays and shots. And then I thought that [Vassallo] from start to finish found openings and made us pay for it.”
After Sylven Landesberg (team-high 20 points) had pulled Virginia (7-6, 1-1) to 55-49 with just over seven minutes to play, Tech went on a
9-0 run to take a commanding 64-49 lead.
It was shortly after Zeglinski hit the deck when Farrakhan, out of nowhere, went berserk. The sophomore scored 15 of the team’s next 19 points to pull Virginia within two, at 72-70, with 51 seconds remaining.
However, Vassallo — with Mamadi Diane draped all over him — responded with a tough fall-away jumper from the baseline to make it 74-70.
“It was a big-time shot, late in the shot clock,” Leitao said, “and ultimately it carried them over the top.”
After a Jamil Tucker 3-pointer cut Tech’s lead to one with 3 seconds left, Virginia was forced to foul Vassallo. The senior drained both free throws to put Tech up by three.
With no timeouts remaining, Virginia’s last gasp was a Zeglinski heave from about 50 feet that sailed wide left.
“I knew I had the right distance — I just missed to the left a little,” said Zeglinski, who had a career-high eight assists. “I was wide open. I just wanted to make sure I got the shot off instead of not getting a shot off.”
Leitao said a number of factors cost his team, including 17 turnovers (the Hokies committed just 11).
“Obviously I’m disappointed with the end result today and not being able to come away with the win,” Leitao said. “I thought during the game and different parts of the game — if we could string together some things on both ends, then we would have a better opportunity.”
Virginia started the game strong. All five starters scored at least a bucket before the first television timeout.
UVa, led by Assane Sene, was also stout on defense. The freshman swatted a driving Delaney shot early on that set an aggressive tone.
Virginia took a six-point lead — its largest of the game — on an inside bucket by Mike Scott (16 points, six rebounds) before Tech started to find its groove.
The Hokies (10-5, 1-1), who had missed layups and committed foolish offensive fouls until that point, closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 40-33 lead, the last basket coming on a Vassallo fastbreak layup after Tucker had been swatted on the other end by Chieck Diakite.
After the intermission, Virginia pulled to within a point on a Diane dunk before Tech started to open things up.
Scott said UVa’s late comeback was too little, too late. “If we would have played like that the whole game,” he said, “we would have won.”
Scott said that he and Tucker were the ones to blame for Zeglinski running into the vicious Allen screen. Their warnings of the pick could not be heard over the crowd.
“I’m a little dazed, but I feel alright,” Zeglinski said. “I used to play football, so I’m used to getting hit like that.”
Dunks
The teams meet again on Feb. 18 in Charlottesville. …Virginia still leads the all-time series, 78-50, including a 26-16 edge in Blacksburg. …UVa shot 53 percent from the field, its highest since a 54-percent outing in the season-opening win over VMI. …Jamil Tucker had a career-high three blocks. …Assane Sene tied his career high with four.