Spiders advance to CBI semifinal, secure 20-win season

The University of Richmond men's basketball team did not allow the struggles that plagued it earlier this year to prevent it from continuing its season.

Richmond got a shot with nine seconds left from sophomore Kevin Anderson to give the Spiders a 74-70 lead as Richmond hung on to beat the College of Charleston 74-72 at the Robins Center on Monday night. The win ensured the Spiders of a spot in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational Tournament.

Richmond saw its 13-point second-half lead dwindle down to two with 42 seconds left in the game. The Spiders then turned to Anderson to get a basket late in a close game: a feat the team struggled to accomplish earlier this season.

"I knew he was going to score," junior David Gonzalvez said. "But I didn't know how he would do it."

Anderson took the ball across midcourt and ran the shot clock down. With only a few seconds left, he took the ball within the three-point line on the right side, where he stopped. After giving a head fake and drawing his defender into the air, he shot a floater that went in the basket with nine seconds left in the game.

The Spiders got scoring from all 10 players who played in the game. Richmond shot 54 percent from the floor and 46 percent from beyond the three-point line.

"They are tough to guard," Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. "They can move the ball and they can shoot it."

Anderson finished with 21 points, moving him past Peter Woolfolk into 10th place on the Richmond all-time single season scoring list with 588 points on the year.

The win gives Richmond a 20-win season for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

"Twenty wins is a standard," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "We play more games now than we used to. So mathematically, it doesn't mean quite as much.

"But it's still a standard and still what people talk about as far as getting to 20 wins. For where our program has been to where it is now, I think it's a significant accomplishment."

Gonzalvez added 15 points and junior Ryan Butler finished with 10 points. Freshman Darrius Garrett set career-highs with six points, three blocks and 17 minutes. This is the second consecutive game that Garrett has established a career-high in points.

"He does some things that we really need him to do," Mooney said. "He blocks shots, he rebounds, and he is athletic. He made a little jump shot today that he is capable of doing. He gave us a big boost."

With the win, Richmond advances to the semifinal of the CBI on Wednesday when it will host an 8 p.m. game against the University of Texas at El-Paso. That gives Richmond only one day to prepare for its opponent.

"This is going to be difficult," Mooney said. "[I am] just trying to get games, trying to get tapes, a verbal scouting report.

"If you talk to another coach and he says, 'Well, this guy is not fast,' or 'This guy cannot make shots,' it's in comparison to his team. So if you are talking to [University of Connecticut coach] Jim Calhoun, it doesn't help you too much."

Said Anderson: "We don't want to stop playing. We're hungry."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu