CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia's new regulation about keeping basketball fans from charging the floor didn't stand a chance Thursday night.

The first overtime game at John Paul Jones Arena was an instant Cavalier classic as Sean Singletary hit an 8-foot fall-away with 1 second remaining in overtime to lift Virginia past eighth-ranked Duke, 68-66.

Duke (18-4 overall, 5-3 ACC) had won the previous nine games between the teams and 22 of the last 24. Virginia (14-6, 6-2) won its fifth straight game, all against ACC opponents, for its longest conference winning streak since 1994-95.

Virginia trailed 59-51 with under 3¹₂ minutes in regulation but came back to force overtime at 61-61.

Senior guard J.R. Reynolds, from Roanoke, sparked the comeback by scoring 13 straight points, the last eight after returning from a calf injury, before Singletary hit a tying jumper with 24.8 seconds remaining.

Reynolds hit 10-of-11 free throws, including three late one-and-ones, and led all scorers with 25 points.

"Their free-throw shooting at the end of the game was [critical]," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Their two guards are sensational. I have a lot of respect for J.R. He's played great all year."

Coach Dave Leitao has been preaching that Virginia needs to play better defense to win consistently, and the Cavaliers received a good illustration of that in the first half.

Or at least they got to see how Duke wins game with defense.

The Blue Devils challenged UVa as it has not been challenged on the perimeter and the Cavaliers connected on only six of their first 20 shots. Reynolds, who had averaged 29 points in his previous three contests, was 1-for-6 to start the game.

Much has been said about Virginia's backcourt of Reynolds and Singletary, but it was Duke sophomore Greg Paulus who sparkled early, scoring eight points in the first 10 minutes, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Virginia seemed to have some momentum when it cut an eight-point margin to 24-18 before Singletary forced a Paulus turnover, but the Cavaliers did not get off a shot before DeMarcus Nelson stole an errant Will Harris pass and brought it back for a dunk.

The Blue Devils subsequently stretched their lead to 34-21 before Virginia closed to 36-29 at the half. UVa was shooting 37.9 percent from the field at that point, compared to the Blue Devils' 55.2.

Virginia twice got as close as four points early in the second half, but Duke countered with some scoring from an unexpected source.

Freshman forward Lance Thomas, whose 4.8-point average was the lowest of the Duke starters, scored the Blue Devils' first five points of the second half.

The Cavaliers finally broke the ice on a Reynolds 3-pointer that made it 43-42 with 11:27 remaining and had two chances to take the lead.

But Harris missed from close range and Cain's tip-in attempt was off the mark.

After he was fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt at the end of the shot clock, Reynolds made all three free throws to force a 49-49 tie with 7:14, but it was more than 2¹₂ minutes before the Cavaliers scored again, this time on a Reynolds runner.

As Duke was headed back up the floor, it took a few moments before the crowd realized that Reynolds lay crumpled on the floor, agonizing as he clutched his cramping left calf.

The play continued, with the Cavaliers playing Duke four-against-five until DeMarcus Nelson buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 57-51 with 4:29 left.

It was 59-51 before Reynolds re-entered the game with 3:42 left.

Duke MP FG FT R A F PT

McRoberts 43 7-18 5-6 2 2 3 19

Thomas 20 4-4 1-1 4 0 5 9

Paulus 45 3-11 2-2 2 5 1 10

Nelson 39 5-10 0-0 4 2 2 12

Scheyer 29 3-9 0-0 3 0 4 7

Pocius 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

McClure 27 2-3 0-0 7 0 2 4

Henderson 20 2-4 1-2 6 0 1 5

Totals 225 26-59 9-11 34 9 19 66

Virginia MP FG FT R A F PT

Mikalauskas 11 1-3 1-2 4 0 3 3

Cain 39 3-7 0-0 10 0 5 6

Reynolds 40 7-15 10-11 4 2 1 25

Diane 39 6-8 0-0 2 2 1 14

Singletary 43 6-16 4-4 2 4 2 17

Harris 17 1-6 0-0 2 0 2 2

Soroye 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

Joseph 15 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 0

Pettinella 5 0-0 1-2 0 0 1 1

Tat 11 0-2 0-0 2 1 0 0

Totals 225 24-58 16-19 33 9 17 68

Rebounds include team rebounds.

Score by periods:

Duke 36 25 5-- 66

Virginia 29 32 7-- 68

3-point goals: Duke 5-18 (Paulus 2-8, DeMarcus 2-5, Scheyer (1-5); Virginia 4-13 (Reynolds 1-4, Singletary 1-5, Diane 2-2, Harris 0-1, Joseph 0-1).

Turnovers: Duke 10 (Paulus 5); Virginia 8 (Singletary 4).

Blocked shots: Duke 6 (McRoberts 3), Virginia 2 (Mikalauskas, Soroye).

Steals: Duke 2 (Nelson, Henderson), Virginia 3 (Diane, Harris, Tat).

Officials: Bryan Kersey, Mike Wood, Mike Stuart.

Attendance: 15,169.