University of Richmond
Charleston
College Of Charleston Edges Men's Basketball, 52-48
12/29/2000 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2000
By JENNA FRYER
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Jody Lumpkin had 16 points and 10 rebounds Friday night to lead College of Charleston to a 52-48 victory over Richmond in the first game of the Hardee's Tournament of Champions at the Charlotte Coliseum.
It was the sixth straight win for the Cougars (9-1), who are off to their best start in seven years. They play the winner of North Carolina-Massachusetts in the tournament final on Saturday night.
Richmond, which had its six-game winning streak snapped, will play in Saturday's consolation game. Despite the loss, the Spiders (7-2) are still off to their best start since the 1987-88 season.
Richmond, which came into the game shooting 52 percent - sixth best in the nation, was held to 29 percent against the Cougars. The Spiders failed to make a field goal over the final 10:52 of the second half, missing open jumpers and easy layups during the stretch.
That allowed College of Charleston to rally from a 44-37 deficit, and take a 46-45 lead on Lumpkins' dunk with 6:21 to play.
Lumpkin hit a layup with 3:47 to go to stretch the Cougars' lead to 48-45, and neither team made another basket.
Still, Richmond had several chances to win it.
Tim Faulconer missed a pair of free throws and Greg Stevenson missed a potentially game-tying 3-pointer with under a minute to go.
Richmond's Scott Ungerer rebounded Stevenon's miss, but the Spiders missed another opportunity when Lumpkin blocked Stevenson's shot with 22 seconds to play.
Leighton Bolton got the rebound and was fouled, then made both free throws to put the Cougars up 50-45.
Richmond's Rick Houston was fouled on his 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to cut it to 50-48 with 14.9 to play.
But the Cougars made two more free throws, then got the rebound off another Richmond miss with five seconds to play to seal the win.
Stevenson led Richmond with 16 points. Reggie Brown added 12.
