A gritty effort gives Richmond the win over Dayton in the Spiders’ A-10 home opener

In their gutsiest performance of the season, the University of Richmond improves to 2–1 in conference play in their first game back in the fully renovated Robins Center.

January 19, 2014; 10:15 AM • by Adam Williams

Recap

One would likely look at the Richmond Spiders’ stat sheet from Saturday afternoon’s game against Dayton and not assume it was their most important performance of the season to date. Both teams’ shooting percentages—Richmond shot 36% and Dayton 51%—are not sufficient indicators of the game’s feel and character, nor are they an adequate picture of how Richmond clawed their way back to a hard-earned win. Dayton is a big and very athletic team (with two highlight dunks against Richmond to prove it), and they showed just how dangerous they can be in the A–10 this season, giving the conference leading Billikens of St. Louis all they could handle last Saturday. For the first 20 minutes of this Saturday’s game, Richmond was physically bullied in the paint and on the boards in front of a sold out Robins Center crowd that was unsure of how their Spiders might respond.

Going into halftime, Richmond was shooting a meager 30% while the Flyers were red hot and shooting 61%. Miraculously, the Spiders found themselves down only four points (36–32) heading into the locker room. Feisty Dayton Coach Archie Miller even gave Richmond a boost before halftime as he was handed a technical which Kendall Anthony converted with just 36 seconds remaining.

The second half was physically dominated by a much more active and hungrier Spider squad, led by Kendall Anthony who scored eight consecutive points to tie the game at 43–43 with 15:38 remaining. The game would go back and forth, with both teams swapping leads until the final television timeout with the game tied at 63. Richmond would then hit ten straight free throws to cap a 10–1 run and put the Flyers away for good.

Anthony led the Spiders with 18 points (3–11 FG, 1–4 3FG, 11–12 FT) while Cedrick Lindsay—Richmond’s leading scorer on the season—scored just below his season average (3–13 FG, 0–1 3FG, 11–13 FT). Alonzo Nelson Ododa added eleven points, seven rebounds, and a season-high six blocks. Coming off of arguably his best performance this season against Fordham last Saturday, Terry Allen added ten points from the bench. As a team, Richmond had its most efficient output from the free throw line this season, hitting 32 of 35 for a 91% mark.

TOP PERFORMER

For the first time in his career, Kendall Anthony attempted more free throws than field goals in a game. Saturday night, it paid off greatly as Anthony provided the aggressive spark on offense that Richmond so desperately needed to pull off the victory against Dayton. Anthony shot poorly from the field but paced a much more physical and gutsy second half that proved to be the most important half of the Spiders’ season thus far. Richmond answered the bell against a hard-nosed and aggressive team in the Dayton Flyers and prevented a 1–2 conference record.

3 STATS

• After beating Dayton, Richmond is 10–2 in A–10 home openers, including a 6–2 mark under Coach Chris Mooney. They have now won five straight A–10 home openers.
• Richmond is still allowing only 65 points per game this season, ranking third in the A–10.
• Saturday’s game marked only the fourth time all season that the Spiders have had four or more scorers in double figures.

LOOKING FORWARD

The Richmond Spiders will face their third nationally-ranked opponent this season on Wednesday night as they play host to a resurgent Massachusetts (#16, 15–1, 3–0) program at 7:00 PM. UMASS ranks in the top 50 in three of the top four offensive categories. The game can be seen on ESPNU and heard locally on ESPN 950. The Spiders will wrap up their current three-game home stand against St. Joes next Saturday at 4:00 PM.

January 19, 2014 10:15 AM 0