University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
#16 Dayton
Richmond Shoots Down No. 16 Dayton, 80-63, Saturday Night
01/26/2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2008
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond led by as many as 25 points in the second half, held off a rally and beat No. 16 Dayton, 80-63, Saturday night at the Robins Center. The largest crowd of the season watched the Spiders lead virtually wire-to-wire in beating their first ranked opponent at home in 18 years. David Gonzalvez and Dan Geriot led the way as Richmond improved to 10-8, 3-2.
Off an in-bounds play, Gonzalvez drilled a three-pointer from the corner to bring the raucous crowd of 7,125 to its feet and put the Spiders comfortably up 70-52 with just under three minutes remaining. That was the story of the night for Richmond, which enjoyed its most proficient night from downtown this season.
The homestanding Spiders drained 11 threes in 21 attempts (52.4 percent), with six coming from the hot-shooting hand of Gonzalvez, who finished with a team-high 20 points. The sophomore was six-for-eight from long-range and seven-for-14 from the field to go along with two steals and two rebounds.
Geriot was six-for-10 from the field and made all six of his free throws to finish as the other Spider in double-figures with 19. Jarhon Giddings had nine points and a team-high six rebounds in just 18 minutes of action as Richmond out-rebounded the visitors 30-25.
Kevin Smith's all-around performance off the bench included nine points, five boards, three assists, three steals, one block and a highlight-reel reverse jam in the closing seconds. Smith played 33 minutes.
Richmond owned a 23-13 advantage in bench-scoring.
Richmond's last win over a Top-25 squad was nearly four years to the day when the Spiders stunned No. 10 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on January 24, 2004. The last win over a nationally-ranked team at home was December 1, 1990 when Richmond took down No. 14 Georgia Tech, 73-71.
Dayton, which fell to 14-4 and 2-3 in the loop, led 8-3 at the 17:39 mark of the first half thanks to a three-pointer from Jimmy Binnie.
But it was all Richmond after that.
Ryan Butler's three-pointer 90 seconds later put the Spiders up for the first time and they would not trail again in winning for the sixth time in their last eight games.
Brian Roberts had 20 to pace the Flyers and former Spider Andres Sandoval added 17.
After Richmond opened its lead to 25 early in the second half on a Gonzalvez jumper, Dayton began to slowly chip away at the lead. Roberts sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a London Warren free throw and Dayton sliced the deficit to 63-50 with 6:26 to play.
But the Spiders locked down on the defensive end and kept their foot on the gas offensively. A 7-2 run over the next 3:30, highlighted by that Gonzalvez three in the corner, iced the game away.
Heating up from long-range early, the Spiders sprinted out to a 28-13 lead at the 9:13 mark. Gonzalvez had nine points in the game's first 11 minutes and Geriot had six as the Spiders poured it on, forcing the road-weary Flyers to use two early timeouts.
Richmond drained a season-high eight threes in the first, shot 61.5 percent (eight-for-13) from downtown and a similar 61.5 from the field (16-for-26) in scoring its most first-half points of the season.
Giddings, who scored eight of his nine points in the first half, put the Spiders up 44-27 and put the crowd on its feet with a with a put-back layup with 32 seconds remaining.
A pair of Kevin Anderson free throws with a tick left on the clock allowed the Spiders close the half with a 12-4 run and sail into locker room with a 46-27 cushion -- the largest halftime lead of the season.
Richmond returns to action Wednesday night, facing its second-straight opponent to spend time in the Top 25 season when the Spiders play at Rhode Island. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Ryan Center in Kingston.
