University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
West Virginia
Spiders Topple Mountaineers, 79-56
03/16/2001 | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2001
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -
The Richmond Spiders (22-6) captured its eleventh victory in its past 12 outings, scorching West Virginia (17-12), 79-56 in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Friday evening. Senior forward Kinte Smith (Va. Beach, Va./Cape Henry) paced the Spiders with a season-high 24 points.
West Virginia scored the first basket of the contest (19:40) but the Mountaineers would go without a field goal the next four minutes and Richmond would capitalize. Greg Stevenson's (Fayetteville, N.C./Fayetteville 71st) offensive rebound and putback at the 15:47 mark capped off a 15-0 Spiders' scoring run. The Mountaineers committed six straight turnovers during the four-minute span. West Virginia closed to within three (19-16) with 10:44 remaining in the first stanza after a Jay Hewitt layup but that was as close as the visitors would get. The Spiders poured on the offense, a 17-4 scoring run midway through the first half featured a show by Smith. The senior forward accounted for 10 of Richmond's last 18 points of the half. Smith scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first half behind a 3-of-3 performance from three-point range. The Spiders shot better from behind the arc (53.3 percent) in the first half than from the field (50.0 percent).
Richmond's ballooned its lead in the second half, opening up the second 20 minutes on a 13-4 tear. A host of Spiders helped to put the game out of West Virginia's reach as they pulled ahead to as many as 27 points in route to a 79-56 victory. Stevenson scored in double digits for the 58th time in his career, posting 18 points while sophomore center Eric Zwayer (Sebring, Fla./Sebring) delivered 12 points, his seventh double figure scoring game in the past nine outings. Junior guard Scott Ungerer (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) added 11 points.
With the win, Richmond advances to the second round of the NIT. The Spiders will travel to Dayton for a Monday, March 18 matchup.
