Box Score

Charlottesville, Va. – Sean Singletary scored a game-high 27 points, 14 coming at the free throw line, to lead Virginia to a 91-69 victory over visiting Hampton Saturday afternoon at the new John Paul Jones Arena. The loss was the Pirates’ third in three tries against the Cavaliers who improved to 6-1. Hampton fell to 2-8 on the year, matching their worst start since the 1998-99 campaign.

The Pirates came out strong early on making three shots from behind the arc in the first three minutes and earning their largest lead of the game, 13-9, on a layup by Demario Mattox five minutes in. However, the Cavaliers responded with an 11-0 run in a span of three minutes to take a 27-18 lead with 7:53 to play before the break.

UVA stretched its lead to 11 on a pair of free throws by J.R. Reynolds and a three-pointer by Adrian Joseph, but head coach Dave Leitao was ejected with 4:43 to play in the first half after being whistled for two technical fouls as he disputed a call.

Hampton closed the half on a 10-5 run, the final basket coming from freshman Vincent Simpson who stripped Mamadi Diane at half court and raced in for a layup as time expired with the scoreboard reading UVA 42, Hampton 36.

The Pirates came out in the second half and attempted to apply some full court pressure, but the Cavaliers made easy work of it getting several easy layups and open three-pointers in transition. Singletary’s three-pointer from the top of the key gave UVA a commanding 65-48 lead with just under 13 minutes to go.

Freshmen Mike Freeman and Matt Pilgrim did their best to keep the Pirates within striking distance, combining for 19 of Hampton’s 33 points in the second half. However, even they couldn’t overcome Hampton’s 9-for-32 effort from behind the arc and 49-33 deficit on the boards.

Freeman and Mattox finished the afternoon with 17 points apiece to lead the Pirates, while Pilgrim added 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in his collegiate debut after missing the past six weeks with a foot injury.

In addition to Singletary’s 27, the Cavaliers had four other players in double figures with Ryan Pettinella posting a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. UVA made just two more field goals than Hampton, but they were able to capitalize on 32 Pirate fouls by going 29-of-44 at the charity stripe.