University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Mississippi State
Butler, Anderson Lead Spiders Over SEC Champ Mississippi State
11/28/2009 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2009
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Ryan Butler had a career-high 19 points and Kevin Anderson made the game-winning jumper with 10 seconds left as Richmond topped defending SEC Champion Mississippi State 63-62 in the semifinals of the South Padre Island Invitational.
Richmond (5-1) led for the game's first 32 minutes, but found itself trailing 62-57 with 2:07 to play on a jumper by Ravern Johnson. Anderson (12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) answered with a tough fade-away jumper over Jarvis Varnado, who led the nation in blocked shots the last two seasons, but only had one swat Friday night.
Mississippi State, which returned five starters of the 2009 SEC Championship team, had the ball with a three-point lead and just over a minute remaining. Point guard Dee Bost dribbled the ball up court against Anderson, who waited until Bost turned his back to the basket and picked his pocket. Anderson raced to save the ball from going out of bounds, drove to the basket and missed an off-balance layup, but Butler was there for the follow to cut the gap to one with 57 seconds to play.
"I had watched tape of him, and I knew he was going to put his back to me and I just timed it right and made sure I got to the ball before it went out of bounds," Anderson said. "Thankfully Ryan was there for the rebound."
Bost was fouled driving to the basket with 28 seconds left, but missed both free throws.
With the shot clock off, Anderson dribbled the ball off a screen to the left wing, and Varnando, who Anderson had challenged a few times in the second half, backed off. Anderson pulled up from about 17 feet and drained the jumper with 10 seconds on the clock.
Mississippi State raced down court and Phil Turner missed the rim on a three-pointer at the buzzer as Richmond was on to the South Padre Island Invitational title game.
"I thought our guys maintained their composure throughout," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "Kevin was obviously terrific and I think Ryan had the best game of his career, he was very aggressive. As a team we were aggressive and very poised. As the game wore on even if we were down by four we were still poised, we played solid defense and were able to get the win in the end."
The Spiders will in the South Padre Island Invitational title game against Missouri, who defeated Old Dominion 66-61 in Friday night's second game.
The Spiders jumped out to an 18-4 lead on Mississippi State, who was a Preseason Top-20 pick by Sports Illustrated and is picked to finish first in the SEC West Division. Junior Justin Harper scored five of his nine points in the opening minutes to get the Spiders going.
The Bulldogs fought their way back, making 6-of-11 three-pointers in the opening half to cut the lead to three at the half (35-32).
Richmond opened up a five-point lead twice in the opening minutes of the second half, but a Kodi Augustus three-pointer had Mississippi State within two at the under 16 minute media timeout.
Dan Geriot (7 points) and then Anderson grabbed his first of three steals and finished on the break for a 45-39 lead. Anderson followed with back-to-back buckets to push the Spiders' lead to 49-39 with 14:06 remaining.
But Mississippi State made two three pointers and four foul shots to go on a 10-0 run and tie the game at 49. A strong driving layup by David Gonzalvez (9 points) kept the Spiders in the lead with just under 10 minutes to play, but a three-pointer by the Bulldogs' Barry Stewart and two free throws by Augustus gave Mississippi State its first lead of the night at 55-53 with 7:37 to play.
The Spiders would tie the game once in the final 7:37, but they would not regain the lead until Anderson's jumper gave them the 63-62 lead with 10 seconds remaining.
"We knew they were going to make a run, they're a big time team, we just wanted to hang with them," Butler said. "We were able to make the necessary plays down the stretch to get the win."
