University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Davidson
Spiders Ring In New Year With Thunderous Victory
12/31/2016 | Men's Basketball
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Richmond basketball rung in the New Year in style, defeating Davidson, 82-80, on the road in the Atlantic 10 opener.
The Spiders (7-6, 1-0) handed Davidson (7-5, 0-1) just its third home loss in the last 41 games since the Wildcats joined the Atlantic 10.
Richmond shot 53.2 percent from the field and had five different players score in double figures. The Spiders hit a season-high 12 three-pointers on 44.4 percent from long range.
Richmond led for all but five minutes of the game and was ahead by as many as 17 points in the second half.
T.J. Cline continued his magnificent play, tallying his third-straight double-double. He scored 19 points with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Cline also had two big steals in the win.
ShawnDre' Jones scored a game-high 21 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the floor. De'Monte Buckingham scored 15 points, Nick Sherod had 13 and Khwan Fore finished with 10 to round out the Spider scorers.
Richmond's Joe Kirby played a career-high 12 minutes in the contest and Kwesi Abakah and Paul Friendshuh both saw valuable time with Abakah making a big first-half block. The Spiders were without 6-8 senior Marshall Wood (sickness) and 6-9 freshman Grant Golden.
Davidson's Peyton Aldridge scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds to lead Davidson. Jack Gibbs also scored 21 points for the Wildcats.
After Davidson started the game on a 7-0 run, the Spiders responded to take a 14-12 lead on a jumper from Fore at the 13:20 mark of the first half. Richmond only trailed once for the rest of the game.
Davidson had a chance to take a lead at the end of the half, but Joe Kirby corralled a Wildcat miss and Jones beat the halftime buzzer to put the Spiders up three at the break.
UR used an 11-0 run to start the second half after a three from Buckingham. Although the Wildcats began to answer baskets, Richmond continued to build momentum throughout the half which culminated with a thunderous slam dunk from Fore.
A three-pointer from Cline gave UR its largest lead at 73-56 with 7:01 remaining, but the Wildcats made a comeback in their building.
Davidson pulled within seven with three minutes left but Fore answered with a layup for UR with 2:29 left.
However, several threes for Davidson cut the lead to two with 25 seconds left. But after a missed jumper from Gibbs, Julius Johnson grabbed a rebound and hit a free throw with four seconds left. Richmond sent Davidson to the line with 1.1 seconds left, and the Wildcats' intentionally missed free throw bounced off for a Spider victory.
UR opens A-10 play at home on Wednesday, Jan. 4 against Fordham at 7 p.m. That game will be televised on WTVR-CBS 6.1.
