Anderson draws Rhode Island into a Spider trap

By Paul Casey Gotham

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Style points don’t matter in basketball. The Richmond Spiders have a quarter-final win to prove it.

Senior guard Kevin Anderson led a Richmond offense in desperate need of points as the Spiders defeated the Rhode Island Rams 55-45 in Atlantic 10 quarter-final action at the Boardwalk Hall.

The usually offensive efficient Spiders relied on their defense to overcome an abysmal 18-of-56 (32.1 percent) shooting performance.

“I thought we did a good job on defense and had the energy,” Anderson commented. “Tonight, we just wanted to come out and make sure the defense was good, and it was the whole game.”

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEakVuuKY4A]

Slowed by a two-three zone, the Spiders needed to grind out points.

Down one early in the second half, Anderson keyed a 13-2 run.

The senior hit a pull-up 3-pointer early in a possession.

Will Martell responded at the other end for the Rams with a give-it-up, get-it back layup. The 7′ center chased down a loose ball under the basket and kicked it out to Marquise Jones in the right corner. Jones drove the baseline and dished to Martell when the defense rotated.

Dan Geriot hit one of two free throws for the Spiders.

After Jones missed from long range, Justin Harper started the Spiders with a defensive rebound and outlet. The senior forward got a return pass from Anderson and earned a trip to the free throw line where he converted both foul shots.

Anderson gave the Spiders a 36-32 lead with two more from the charity stripe.

One minute later, Anderson found Harper in transition, and the 6’10 forward finished a baseline drive with thunderous left-handed dunk.

With the Rams reeling, Darius Garret tipped a pass intended for Jones and led Anderson into the open court where he earned another trip to the line.

Anderson sunk one-of-two, and Richmond led 39-32.

Rhode Island’s seniors, Delroy James and Jones tried to pull the Rams back in the game

James finished a layup in traffic. Jones hit a pull up 3-pointer, then followed with a left-handed layup on the next trip, and URI trailed 43-39 with five minutes remaining.

Anderson scored five points as the Spiders outscored the Rams 12-6 down the stretch.

“For a team that’s accustomed to shooting very well, it catches you off guard when we shoot that poorly,” commented Richmond head coach Chris Mooney. “Our defense, our rebounding, and we were just a tough enough team to win without doing something that we usually do well.”

Richmond entered play scoring 71 points a game on 47 percent shooting from the field. The 55 points needed for the win set a record in A10 tournament history for the lowest point total by a winning team.

The Rams beat Richmond 78-74 on January 13th at the Robins Center in Rhode Island. URI had 17 assists on 27 field goals in the win. Tonight, the Rams managed just five asissts.

“You can’t beat a good basketball team with five assists,” Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron explained. “To beat good teams you have to have between 15 and 20 assists. We needed to share the basketball because that’s what we did the first time to beat them.”

Rhode Island falls to 19-13 on the season.

The Spiders hit 14-of-17 from the free throw line and outscored the Rams by 11 at the line.

Richmond improves to 25-7 and advances to Saturday’s semi-finals where they will meet Temple in a re-match of last year’s A10 championship.

“They’re really a terrific team,” Mooney said of the Owls. “They have so many good players. They’re under control. If we can guard them, we’ll have a chance.”

Richmond and Temple will tipoff 23 minutes after the conclusion of the St. Joseph’s – Dayton contest. The Hawks and Flyers are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.