University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Charlotte
Charlotte Erases 10-Point First-Half Lead To Cut Down Spiders
02/07/2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2007
Box Score |
Quotes |
Notes |
Photos 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Richmond men's basketball team opened up a 10-point first-half lead, but Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire got hot, making 7-of-10 shots from behind the arc in the 49ers 61-46 victory Wednesday night in Halton Arena.
Richmond freshman Brian Morris led the Spiders with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including three 3-pointers. Red-shirt freshman Ryan Butler had 10 points, a career-high four steals and four rebounds.
Junior Drew Crank had six points for the Spiders.
Goldwire led the 49ers with 25 points, making 7-of-10 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 25 points. He was the only Charlotte player in double-figures.
"He's a very good player. They shot so poorly their last game against Xavier, so I knew one of those guys was going to shoot well tonight," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "From our end we didn't do anything that made it too difficult."
E.J. Drayton and Jerell Jamison each had eight points and 10 rebounds. De'Angelo Alexander had seven points and seven rebounds.
The Spiders opened up a 16-6 lead and held an 18-9 advantage, but Charlotte closed the first half on a 12-0 run to take a 21-18 halftime lead.
"At the start we seemed to be taking the game to them, then they took it us," Mooney said.
A 3-pointer by Goldwire gave Charlotte a double-figure lead less than three minutes into the second half and two possessions later another Goldwire trey pushed the lead to 11 with 16:10. The Spiders would get no closer the rest of the way.
The Spiders had a first-half lead of nine points or more for the second-straight game. Richmond led UMass by nine. This was the fourth time this season that the Spiders had a double-digit lead, but lost.
Richmond was out-rebounded 42-18 on the glass, giving up 17 offensive rebounds.
"Even when they weren't scoring, they were killing us on the glass," Mooney said.
Richmond shot just 38.3 percent from the field and 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from 3. Charlotte shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the floor and 42.1 percent from behind the arc (8-of-19).
Richmond now has its longest layoff since exam break in December. The Spiders return to action next Wednesday, Feb. 14 when Duquesne visits the Robins Center for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
