University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
CHARLOTTE
Men's Basketball Wins Third-Straight Against Charlotte
02/21/2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2009
| INTERVIEWS
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond sophomore Kevin Anderson scored 19 points and junior David Gonzalvez grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds as the Spiders defeated Charlotte 65-58 on Saturday night in front of 7,059 fans at the Robins Center.
The Spiders won their second-straight game and for the third time in the last four games to improve to 14-13 overall and 6-6 in the Atlantic 10. Richmond has won three-straight against Charlotte and improved to 4-3 against the 49ers since Charlotte joined the Atlantic 10 in 2005-06. The two teams meet again in Charlotte on March 3.
For the second time in the last 10 days the Spiders took down a team coming off a victory over nationally ranked Xavier. Richmond defeated Duquesne 71-67 on Feb. 11 after the Dukes knocked off Xavier and Charlotte had toppled the Musketeers 65-60 on Thursday night.
Anderson, who had scored 24 and 28 points in the previous two games, scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, grabbed six rebounds and had three steals. Sophomore Kevin Smith had 11 points, six rebounds and a career-high three blocks. Gonzalvez pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds to go with eight points.
Senior Jarhon Giddings had six points and six rebounds and junior Ryan Butler had eight points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a career-high four blocks. Richmond had eight blocks as a team, including a highlight reel swat by freshman Francis-Cedric Martel. The Spiders are averaging 9.0 blocks in the last two games.
Richmond trailed 33-29 at the half and went down 39-33 with 17:28 to play in the second half, but Richmond's defense, which has held two-straight conference opponents to under 60 points, held Charlotte to four points over the next nine minutes.
The Spiders opened up a 49-43 lead with 8:14 to play on a layup by Giddings , but Charlotte came back to take a 50-49 lead with 7:09 left on a three-pointer by DiJuan Harris. Richmond then held Charlotte without a field goal for six minutes and as it opened up a 60-52 advantage.
Ian Anderson made a three-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to five, but the Spiders pushed the advantage back to 10 in the closing seconds before Harris made a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Spiders return to action on Wednesday when they play at Fordham at 7 p.m.
