CHARLOTTESVILLE - Look who's all alone atop the ACC standings with one game left in the regular season.
In what could be called the revenge of the role players, Virginia defeated cross-state rival Virginia Tech 69-56 Thursday night.
The win, coupled with North Carolina's loss to Georgia Tech, left the Cavaliers with a one-game lead over the Tar Heels, the Hokies and Boston College.
Virginia needs only to beat Wake Forest on Saturday to claim the top seed for next weekend's ACC tournament. It would be its first regular-season title since 1995.
The Cavaliers (20-8, 11-4) were picked to finish eighth in the preseason.
"It means we've come a long way," guard Sean Singletary said. "If we can get this win Saturday, it will just be icing on the cake."
On a night when guards J.
R. Reynolds and Singletary shot a combined 8 for 28, the Cavaliers' "complementary" players, as Jason Cain called them, bailed Virginia out.
In Tech's 84-57 win in Blacksburg last month, Cain, Mamadi Diane and Adrian Joseph combined for four points.
The Hokies' Deron Washington and A.D. Vassallo,
complements to guards Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon, went for 44.
On Thursday, the roles reversed.
Vassallo, crowded by Diane and Joseph, finished with three points on 1-for-8 shooting. Washington, a one-man transition game in Blacksburg, managed nine points, but had none of the energizing plays that propelled the Hokies in the first meeting.
Instead, it was Cain spinning and Diane dropping in 3-pointers.
"They made sure they were a big part of the game today," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.
"Off the top of my head, they made 3-point shots, we didn't," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.
The Cavaliers hit 10 of 16, the Hokies 2 of 15. Reynolds and Singletary did their part, combining for 30 points and five 3-pointers.
The Hokies (20-9, 10-5) had their chances, weathering an opening 17-5 burst by Virginia to grab a first-half lead.
But Virginia pushed the lead back to eight at the half and responded to each Tech threat afterward.
The Cavaliers often shoot well at home, where they finished the season 16-1, 8-0 in ACC play.
On Thursday, they also played better transition defense than they did in Blacksburg, limiting the Hokies to four fast break points.
Tech, a team that scores in bunches, wasn't able to stretch its legs on the break. Dowdell led Tech with 17 points, but no one else scored in double figures. Gordon spent much of the game in foul trouble.
"Other guys have to step up," center Coleman Collins said.
Virginia's "other" guys did. Afterward, Joseph sat in one corner of the room, talking about how good the Cavaliers can be when everyone is clicking.
Cain sat in another wearing a black AC/DC "Back in Black" thermal shirt that he boasted he got for $10.
A perfect senior night, he said, adding that his teammates didn't say much to him about a second-half spin move that helped squelch a Virginia Tech rally, but the coaching staff did.
"They were probably wondering," he said, with a grin.
"Where has that been?
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