University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
XAVIER
Richmond Takes Down No. 17 Xavier; Earns Sixth-Seed In A-10 Tourney
03/07/2009 | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2009
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond sophomore Kevin Anderson made believers out of No. 17 Xavier.
Anderson scored a career-high 29 points to lead Richmond to an 80-75 win over No. 17 Xavier on Saturday, the second-straight season the Spiders have defeated a top-20 team in the Robins Center.
"He was a one-man wrecking crew tonight. He's one of the elite point guards in the country," Musketeer coach Sean Miller said. "He'll be the player of the year in this conference before he's through. We had no answer to him."
Anderson played 40 minutes with no turnovers, four rebounds, one assist and two steals.
"It's not the first time I've seen him play like that," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "There was a high degree of difficulty in some of those shots."
The Spiders clinched a tie for fifth in the Atlantic 10, joining Xavier, Temple and Saint Joseph's as the four A-10 teams who have finished in the fifth place or better in each of the past two seasons. Richmond will be the sixth seed in the A-10 Tournament and play 11th-seed St. Bonaventure on Wednesday at 9 p.m. at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.
Sophomore Justin Harper had 20 points for the Spiders (17-14, 9-7 Atlantic 10), who shot 50.9 percent and were 19-of-23 from the line. Senior Jarhon Giddings added 12 points.
Richmond led by double-figures on three different occasions in the Robins Center, but Xavier (24-6, 12-4) cut the lead to 75-73 with 1:21 remaining on Terrell Holloway's short jumper in the lane to cap a 20-7 run.
Richmond hung on to beat a ranked team at the Robins Center for just the seventh time in 37 years, but the second time under Mooney.
"We've been in this situation too many times," Anderson said. "It shows that we learned from our past losses and our mistakes and we've grown as a team. We can take this win and go into the tournament with confidence."
After Holloway missed a pair of free throws, Anderson sunk a pair with 29 seconds left for a 78-73 lead. Brown cut it to 78-75 with 17.8 seconds left on two more.
Xavier missed two three-point attempts in the closing seconds and Harper rebounded the second, was fouled, and hit two free throws with 1.3 seconds left.
