Richmond men's basketball wins nail-biter against Tribe

The University of Richmond Spiders held on to win a close game against the University of William and Mary Tribe on Wednesday night, despite a stellar performance from the Tribe’s Marcus Thornton.

Thornton used his full arsenal of dribble moves, pump fakes, and trick releases to consistently get open and score 37 points. He shot an efficient 14 of 18 from the field, including 8-11 from 3-point range. The Spiders managed to weather the storm, and won 68-67. After the game, Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said he’d never seen anything like Thornton’s performance.

“Best I’ve ever seen,” Mooney said after the game, describing Thornton’s scoring display. “Eight-for-eleven from three and half those threes are off the dribble or after a pump fake, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

William & Mary has grown accustomed to Thornton shouldering the scoring load. He leads the team in points per game and has been the top Tribe scorer in four of the first seven games. His 37 points were the most in a single game for a William & Mary player since 1990.

Richmond again relied on Kendall Anthony to spark the offense and he answered the call, scoring 16 first-half points and finishing with 18. Terry Allen also scored 18 points and TJ Cline scored eight of his 10 in the second half to help keep the offense afloat when the Tribe defense clamped down on Anthony.

Anthony hit two free throws with seconds left in the first half, but instead of allowing time to expire, stole the William & Mary inbounds pass, drove to the basket and banked home a crafty reverse layup as the buzzer sounded. The shot extended Richmond’s lead to five points, but more importantly gave the Spiders some much-needed momentum and energized the crowd.

While Anthony admitted he was impressed with Thornton’s performance, he didn’t turn it into a one-on-one battle, keeping his teammates involved throughout the game.

“I don’t really worry about my points,” Anthony said. “I was really just worried about the win … Credit to him for scoring all the points, but it’s all about the win.”

Richmond dominated the turnover battle, forcing 18 turnovers compared to only 11 for William & Mary. More importantly, the Spiders converted those turnovers into 27 points, compared with only 12 for the Tribe.

Another factor in the Spiders’ victory was the free-throw margin. William & Mary attempted only 10 foul shots compared to Richmond’s 27. Especially in the second half, Richmond attacked the lane, creating good scoring chances and racking up Tribe fouls.

Richmond also seemed to come up with more loose balls than William & Mary, in part because of multiple hustle plays by Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Trey Davis in the second half. Despite all the Spiders’ advantages, William & Mary still had chances at the end thanks in large part to Thornton keeping the game close.

The Tribe’s Omar Prewitt went to the free-throw line after a Richmond foul away from the basket for a one-and-one with his team down one point and 4.3 seconds left on the clock. He missed the first foul shot, allowing Richmond’s Trey Davis to secure the rebound and draw a quick foul.

At the other end, Davis missed both of his free throws, giving Prewitt another to win the game. His desperation heave from half court was slightly off-target, and the crowd in the Robins Center breathed a collective sigh of relief after watching it bounce away.

The Richmond victory breaks a two-game losing streak for the Spiders, now 3-3, and drops the Tribe to 5-2.

“The win gives us confidence for sure,” Anthony said. “Coming back from two tough losses on the road, we had to dig in at practice and really focus and I think that’s what really helped us get the win tonight.”

The Spiders will play their next game at James Madison University on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Contact reporter Walter Abrams at walter.abrams@rihmond.edu