University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
#25 Vanderbilt
Anderson Nets 25 As Spiders Knock Off Vandy In NCAA Second Round
03/17/2011 | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2011
DENVER, Colo. - Kevin Anderson poured in game-high 25 points and keyed a 12-0 second-half run that gave Richmond the lead for good as the 12th-seeded Spiders knocked off fifth-seeded Vanderbilt, 69-66, Thursday in an NCAA Second Round game in Denver, Colo.
The Spiders (28-7) advance to the Third Round and will battle 13th-seeded Morehead State, which upset fourth-seeded Louisville 62-61 earlier Thursday at the Pepsi Center. The winner of Saturday's game advances to the Sweet 16.
Anderson was 10-of-24 from the field, drained four-of-nine from behind the arc and the senior guard scored Richmond's last five points in the game including the dagger - his patented floater in heavy traffic with 18.7 seconds left that gave the Spiders a 68-65 lead.
Justin Harper, who finished with 13 points, nailed a three-pointer at the 15:31 mark that trimmed Richmond's deficit to six at 48-42 and triggered the decisive 12-0 run over the next five minutes.
Anderson then began firing with deadly accuracy - his three at 13:46 cut the margin to 48-45; he connected again at the 13:00 mark and tied the game at 48-48 and his third in a row gave the Spiders a 51-48 lead at 12:04.
Richmond never trailed again in winning for the seventh time in nine tries versus Top 25 opponents (Vanderbilt was ranked 25th) and giving head coach Chris Mooney his 12th win over BCS-level teams in six seasons.
The Spiders finished the game with just three turnovers (none in the second half), nine blocked shots and got 23 points from the bench, including 12 clutch markers (all three-pointers) from Francis-Cedric Martel.
Along with Martel, Darrius Garrett gave the Spiders key production off the bench as the 6-foot-9 junior scored four points, grabbed five boards and swatted away five shots.
Vanderbilt (23-11) was led by Festus Ezeli, who scored 21 - but just eight in the second half on three-of-five shooting. Ezeli, though, was a spotless five-for-five from the field in the first half as the Commodores led for the first 20 minutes and opened their largest lead at 31-20 with five minutes left.
But the Spiders took momentum to the locker room, ending the half on a 12-4 run, getting five-straight points from Cedrick Lindsay and a Harper jumper right before the halftime buzzer to trim Vandy's lead to just 35-32.
Lindsay scored seven points and Darien Brothers had eight.
